Dimitri POV Vampire Academy
by darcyalex
Summary: Dimitri's point of view of Vampire Academy, duh!
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first fanfic so I hope it's ok... if you like it, review to let me know to keep going! :)**

**Disclaimer - I do not own Vampire Academy or any of its characters! Although I wish I could have Dimitri! Yum! :P**

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-Chapter 1-**

It was chilly in the cool Portland air. After weeks of searching, going back and forth between the school and Portland, looking for the Princess, we finally had them, at least I hoped.

I heard a sudden scream and I realized that it was coming from a third floor window. I saw someone get up and rush over to the other side of the room. I watched carefully, wondering… We knew the Princess was in this building, we just didn't know where. We were planning on waiting until her and Miss Hathaway left in a few hours, but if this was them, maybe we wouldn't have to.

After a few moments and no movement around the room, I decided to turn my attention away, watching the other windows of the dorm room.

No sooner had I looked away, and the light to the room where the screaming had come from, had flickered on.

And there they were.

The light in the room was dim, but plenty for me to know that it was Vasilisa Dragomir and Rosemarie Hathaway sitting on the bed. It must have been the Princess that had been screaming, because it was Rose that was comforting Vasilisa.

I saw a cat jump onto the window sill. It couldn't have belonged to the girls, because, naturally, I saw that it gave Rose a wide berth, animals hated dhampirs. But that didn't stop it from going to comfort Vasilisa.

Suddenly I saw Rose look at the princess with worry, saying something to her. Vasilisa shrugged and mumbled something in reply, looking away from Rose.

Rose spoke again, shifting around on the bed—while the cat jumped back to the window sill. I could see Rose telling Vasilisa to do something, but she kept up her protests. Eventually Rose brought her hair back over her shoulder and tilted her head, exposing her neck.

I took a step forward, partly leaving the shadow of the tree I was standing beneath. A stupid mistake, yes, but I was unbelieving of what I was about to witness. Suddenly the princess gave in, and slowly lowered her head to the exposed neck.

A heard a small scream of pain from Rose, before she relaxed and let the endorphins of the Moroi bite take over. I had never known what it felt like to get the rush from a Moroi bite, nor did I ever want to, and I had a feeling Rose hadn't wanted it either once. Although she probably still didn't, her resistance to it was clearly weaker since she was doing it for Vasilisa.

When Vasilisa pulled away, I watched Rose fall onto the bed exhausted, leaving my view. The princess said something and left the room, grabbing a jacket.

With nothing left in the room to really watch, I noticed the cat was sitting on the window sill, watching me. _Damn it_.

I stared at the cat for a few more moments before realizing that Rose had stumbled her way to the window. A warm breeze played with her long hair as she leaned out and suddenly spotted me, the only other person on the dead campus. She jerked back for a moment before leaning back forward to see me better.

I realised then that I had stepped out of my shadows before and forgot to hide myself again. _Damn it._

I stepped back as one of the other guardians came to me, asking me what was going to happen next. When I was sure we were completely lost to Rose's view but I could still see her, I told him to wait a moment.

I looked up at Rose as the cats' behaviour towards me, finally clicked in her head. She jerked again with realization and grabbed her coat and probably some shoes, rushing out of the room.

"Move," I said to him and he contacted the other guardians that had come with us. I moved around to the front entrance of building just in time to see both girls rush out and run down the street. I followed them in the bushes for two blocks before Vasilisa stopped—I stopped dead too—and suddenly spoke, "Did you hear that?"

Rose listened for a few moments hearing the footsteps of my colleagues catching up. "We've got to run for it," she told Vasilisa.

"But you can't—" the princess protested.

"_Run._"

And they bolted. I kept my pace with them for another few blocks, waiting for my opportunity, but with the other guardians growing closer—and consequently the girls trying to pick up speed—I had to stop them. Ten feet from the corner I stepped out in front of them.

I looked at Rose first as she pulled Vasilisa back behind her, took in her appearance; her long, dark hair that matched her dark eyes and skin tone. She was short, like her mother whom I had met a few weeks ago, and she was pretty well built; _attractive_, probably to anyone who wasn't about to drag her back to school—most likely kicking and screaming.

Vasilisa behind her looked scared as she looked around at the hopelessness of the situation.

The other guardians surrounded them with me, and Rose became even more defensive.

"Leave her alone," she growled at me. "Don't touch her."

I kept my face blank and raised my hands, hoping to convey that I wasn't going to harm anyone.

"I'm not going to—" I tried to explain, stepping forward.

Rose attacked, or tried to attack anyway. I knocked her away a little harder than I had meant to; I had forgotten that she was just a novice who hadn't properly trained in two years, and that she had just given Vasilisa a lot of her blood. She started to fall towards the pavement at a hip-first angle. I knew it was going to hurt; and I was going to let her, too, but I reached out and stopped her, grabbing her arm just as fast as I had deflected her. But it hadn't been my choice, I was honestly going to let her fall as a small punishment for being stupid enough to try and attack me. Instead my body had made me save her.

While I held her, my gaze wandered down to her neck, staring at the dark patch of blood that had partly started to dry. I noticed Rose put the tips of her finger to her neck and pull her hand away, looking at the blood before using her hand to bring her hair back over her shoulder to cover the wound.

She jerked out of my hold and I let her go freely. Rose stepped back towards the princess and when she looked like she was about to strike again, Vasilisa grabbed her hand and whispered for her not to.

Rose looked like she wasn't going to back down, but suddenly, like Vasilisa had made her be calm, Rose sagged in defeat. I carefully stepped forward; worried I would set her off again. I turned to Vasilisa and bowed to her. "My name I Dimitri Belikov," I told her, hoping she would calm if I introduced myself first. "I've come to take you back to St. Vladimir's Academy, Princess."


	2. Chapter 2

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Hope you guys are liking it so far. Do you think I got Dimitri's personality right?

Disclaimer - I don't own VA or it's characters, that privelage goes to Richelle Mead.

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**-Chapter 2-**

We took them to the airport with out much hassle, for which I was thankful. But that was before I noticed the girls whispering.

"Separate them," I ordered to the other guardians. "Don't let them talk to each other," I warned to the guardian escorting Rose onto the Academy's private jet. "Five minutes together, and they'll come up with an escape plan." I never got the easy tasks.

I got a sharp look from Rose before she stormed off down the aisle of the plane, and knew instantly that they had been trying to escape.

I went to sit by Vasilisa, staying alert and sharp in case Rose did come up with an escape plan. But once we were in the air—and the chances of the girls escaping were at the minimum—I relaxed a little, I didn't want to scare Vasilisa by being so tensed up. That didn't stop her from being terrified though, her fear radiating off her like a bomb. I wanted to comfort her, but feared that would make things worse.

"Rose will make a great guardian someday," I said in an even voice, trying to calm her anyway. "You'll be lucky to have her around to protect you, she would make a great guardian anyway from what I've heard, but guarding her best friend will make her an even greater one. Trust me." And maybe a little something extra will help to, I added to myself.

Vasilisa shot me a terrified glance and when I looked over to her, I saw her facing straight ahead, fear ingrained onto her face. She clutched a water bottle tightly and that was when I realised that I had become slightly parched after the chase.

I reached forward to the floor to grab a bottle of my own. As soon as I leant down, I remembered that I had my shoulder-length dark hair pulled back, and that Vasilisa would have a clear view of my promise mark, a snake like line across the top of my neck that marked I was a guardian, and my _molnija _marks, six tiny lightening-crossed tattoos that marked each Strigoi I had killed. Six was a fairly large number for someone my age, but it earnt me respect among the guardians. But to Vasilisa, it would spike her fear even further, so I casually pulled myself back up, forgetting all about the water.

About half an hour out from Montana, I went to sit by Rose—in all my worry about the princess being alright, I had forgotten that Rose was the one who had faced the most injury tonight—and as soon as I did, she abundantly turned her head towards the window.

After several moments of pure silence between us, I spoke. "Were you really going to attack all of us?" I had wanted to know, because it was something I never thought capable of a novice.

After she didn't say anything, I had my answer.

"Doing that… protecting her like that—it was very brave." I paused for a moment, thinking that I shouldn't encourage her in case something much worse happened to her if she tried it ever again. "_Stupid_, but still brave. Why did you try it?"

She looked me levelly in the eye, brushing her long hair out of her face. "Because I'm her guardian." And she went back to staring out the window.

I took a second to think about that. Rose was still a novice, still training to become a guardian, Vasilisa's guardian. She had a serious understanding of Vasilisa's feelings, she knew how terrified Vasilisa was on that street, and that's why she tried to attack me. But once Vasilisa gave off a more calm feeling, Rose calmed. I wondered if it could really be like the old stories my grandmother had told me as a boy.

I stood up and returned to sit with Vasilisa until the end of the flight.

After we landed, the girls realised that they had no choice but to be driven back to the Academy, the entire trip was silent. When we reached the Academy's gates, it took only a moment for the two guardians on duty to realize that we weren't Strigoi and that we had finally brought back Princess Dragomir. They gave us small praise as we continued on through the gate.

I saw Rose looking around, remembering, and the way she looked at it… This school, like the one I had attended in Siberia, was very old and gothic, the Moroi loved to stay with tradition. And St. Vladimir's wasn't even as old as the one I had graduated from, but it still had the brick archways that reminding me of really old cathedrals and wrought iron gates enclosing small gardens all over the campus.

Montana did have loveliness to it that I enjoyed. It had a view too; there was space everywhere here. Wildly beautiful forests surrounding the edge of the entire campus, and the mountains you could see in the distance were marvelous. During the day, they were spectacular. Now, just on sunset—the start of the vampiric day—they had much more beauty.

I didn't pay attention to the surroundings for too long; I walked the girls across to the upper campus, and it didn't take long for Rose to break away from her place to come beside me.

"Hey, Comrade."

I said nothing and kept walking; my brow furrowed just the slightest bit. Where had she come up with 'Comrade'? It had to be that satirical Rose Hathaway nature I had heard so much about. "You want to talk now?" I finally said.

"Are you taking us to Kirova?"

"_Headmistress_ Kirova," I corrected, for the pure purpose of hoping to annoy her. It almost made me smile.

"Headmistress. Whatever. She's still a self-righteous old bit—"

Her ramblings faded as we walked through the big set of double doors that led straight into the commons. There were a dozen other possible routes to take to Kirova's office—Rose knew that as well as I did—but this was just too much fun to miss.

Because it was breakfast time. Every dhampir novice and Moroi in the room stopped their chatter and clinking of cutlery on plates and bowls. And the hundred sets of eyes all turned their attention to the two girls on either side of me.

I began to regret my decision to bring them through here, thinking it would be punishment enough for them, but as we walked through and I saw Vasilisa try to hide herself from her classmates, ashamed, and I realized what a huge mistake I had made. Rose on the other side of me was defiantly staring down anyone she could lay eyes on and I would have shaken my head at her, but decided it best to keep my guardian face.

I felt relief for the girls when we made it into Headmistress Kirova's office—most of the guardians left us while myself and Alberta, captain of the school's guardians, remained behind—but when I saw the look on her face, my hardness on the girls seemed like I had given them lollipops or even a million dollars for running away. Once Kirova opened her mouth, I hardened, knowing the worst of it was coming.

My lip upturned just the tiniest bit as Kirova opened her mouth, but something in me began to feel sorry for the girls as they were about to endure Kirova's wrath, they were just a couple of teenagers after all. No. Rose may have been young and stupid when they left, but she understood what it meant to be a guardian, and Vasilisa was the last of the Dragomir line, not an Ivashkov.

Just a Kirova was about to start, Prince Victor Dashkov spoke from the corner. I had noticed his presence, but thought he might have at least waited until Kirova was finished before speaking up, royal or not.

"Vasilisa," he whispered as he struggled to rise himself from the chair he was sitting in. Vasilisa got up herself and wrapped her arms around him, perhaps a little too tightly.

I had straightened myself up just a little more. It was just a natural reaction I had around royals, but with Victor it was something different.

I had met Victor upon my arrival to St. Vladimir's a few months ago. He was the one who had had me reassigned here after my last charge had… well, he had helped me out, but I didn't trust him. He had always put me on edge whenever I was around him.

He told me he had got me sent to the Academy specifically because he wanted me to be the one to bring the princess back. But he never seemed too concerned for Rose. Whenever it came up about what to do with her, he would wave it off, telling me to do what needed to be done, and I wondered if he had even wanted be to bring her back. And if not, why didn't he want me to bring back the best possible guardian for Vasilisa? No one would make a better guardian for the last Dragomir princess than her best friend and possibly the person she had an extra connection with. He always had an eagerness to have Vasilisa—and only Vasilisa—back.

"Uncle," Vasilisa whispered. Royals liked to use family terms like this loosely among each other, mostly the ones they were closest to though.

He managed a smile as he patted her back. "You have no idea how glad I am to see you safe, Vasilisa." He glanced at Rose. "And you too, Rose." My back stiffened even further. The fact Vasilisa had called him uncle—although Moroi royals loosely used family terms anyway—had made me think that maybe this was why he wanted her back so bad, but that still didn't explain to me why he had never seemed to mind if Rose didn't come back. Either way, I pushed it to the back of my mind, I would have to keep an eye on Victor though; I just couldn't voice my suspicions about such a high class royal until I knew for sure there was something going on with him.

I looked at Rose; she was horrified by the way the prince looked. He had a rare disease that would stop him from rising to be king. Shame really. But as Rose looked at his extra pale, withered body and shaking hands, she felt sorry for him. I did too, though—slightly.

After a few more moments, Kirova pushed Vasilisa back to her seat.

And the lecture began.

I had witnessed a few of Kirova's lectures on other students, and even plenty towards myself after my few failed attempts at bringing the princess back, but this one was pure gold. I paid attention for a short while though; it only covered everything I knew Rose probably knew better than most guardians and novices: lack of responsibility, reckless behavior, self centeredness… etc. When the rant shifted more specifically to Rose, I listened more carefully.

"…the most sacred promise among our kind: the promise of a guardian to protect a Moroi. It is a great trust…" I stopped listening when she continued about putting the last Dragomir in danger of Strigoi.

Vasilisa argued for Rose, trying to convince Kirova that it was her idea; and I wondered. If the princess felt she needed to get away out of fear, Rose had to have known how deep that fear went…

When Rose started yelling, things got interesting.

"I _did_ do my duty!" she shouted, jumping from her chair. I flinched forward—as did Alberta—but since Rose wasn't throwing hits to anyone just yet, I kept back. "I did keep her safe! I kept her safe when none of _you_"—she swept the room, and I noticed Prince Victor raise his eyebrows and straighten up, but looking interested in her words, not shocked—"could do it. I took her away to protect her. I did what I had to do. You certainly weren't going to." That was an interesting point.

Vasilisa looked like she was trying to force Rose to be calm without words or gestures, and if my suspicions were correct, she wouldn't need them.

"Miss Hathaway, forgive me if I fail to see the logic of how taking her out of a heavily guarded, magically secured environment is protecting her. Unless there is something you aren't telling us?"

I watched Rose carefully, looking for any sign that she knew more than she was telling. She bit her lip. I then decided to try and find out what it was that Rose wasn't saying.

"I see. Well, then. By my estimation, the only reason you left—aside from the novelty of it, no doubt—was to avoid the consequences of that horrible, destructive stunt you pulled just before your disappearance."

"No, that's not—" She definitely had something else to hide.

"And that only makes my decision that much easier. As a Moroi, the princess must continue her education here at the Academy for her own safety, but we have no such obligations to you. You will be sent away as soon as possible."

Rose's argumentative attitude dried up. "I… what?"

Vasilisa stood up. "You can't do that! She's my guardian."

"She is no such thing, particularly since she isn't even a guardian at all. She's still a novice."

"But my parents—"

"I know what your parents wanted, God rest their souls, but things have changed. Miss Hathaway is expendable. She doesn't deserve to be a guardian, she will leave." Kirova calling Rose expendable hit a nerve. All novices should be given the opportunity to become guardians. But just as I was about to speak up, Rose came back to Earth.

"Where are you going to send me? To my mom in Nepal? Did she even know I was gone? Or maybe you'll send me off to my _father_?"

Kirova's eyes narrowed harshly at the edge in Rose's last word. So Rose didn't know who her father was? I felt a twinge of guilt for this, but then I remembered my father, and how I would have been better off not knowing who he was; maybe Rose was lucky, like most other dhampir's were.

"Or maybe you're going to try to send me off to be a blood whore. Try that and we'll be gone by the end of the day." Rose's words were so cold I saw Vasilisa looked a bit scared of her. I knew that a commune was the only option for Rose, she'd said it herself; she had nowhere else to go. I knew personally that not all dhampir communes were filled of nothing but blood whores—as much as I hated using that term, there was no other alternative description—but Rose was young, she was too valuable as guardian to let go.

"Miss Hathaway," Kirova hissed out, "you are out of line." Kirova's tone made it clear that if expelled, she _would_ be left to fend for herself, and where else would she go but a commune. I knew I had to speak up, tell Kirova and everyone else in the room of my suspicions concerning the girls. Rose was _not_ expendable.

"They have a bond." My voice broke the heavy tension that filled the room, and Kirova looked at me in surprise, but more like she hadn't known I was in the room, at least I knew I was doing my job right. When everyone turned to look at me—including Victor, who looked a little too eager about what I had just said—I wished I hadn't said anything. But I looked at Rose and as she looked back at me, something inside me switched, and I really _knew_ that she had to stay, not just for Vasilisa. "Rose knows what Vasilisa is feeling, don't you."

Now Kirova was shocked by what I had actually said. "No… that's impossible. That hasn't happened for centuries."

"It's obvious," I told her. "I suspected as soon as I started watching them." I just hadn't realised it until a while after that.

Rose finally looked away, unresponsive.

"That is a gift," Victor murmured from the corner. "A rare and wonderful thing."

I quickly eyed Victor—he still had that face on that made me feel uncomfortable about his real intentions. "The best guardians always had that bond," I added, reinforcing that Rose was the best choice to guard Vasilisa. "In the stories." They were just myths after all; but apparently not.

Kirova became outraged again. "Stories that are centuries old," she cried. "Surely you aren't suggesting we let her stay at the Academy after everything she's done?"

I shrugged, trying to make it seem like I cared a lot less than I actually did "She might be wild ad disrespectful, but if she has potential—"

"Wild and disrespectful?" Rose interrupted. "Who the hell are you anyway? Outsourced help?"

"Guardian Belikov is the princess's guardian now," Kirova said harshly. This was the first I had heard of this, but I kept a surprised look off my face for now. "Her _sanctioned _guardian."

"You got cheap foreign labor to protect Lissa?"

I stood there, wondering if I was making the right decision. Maybe it was a waste of time keeping Rose here. Well I certainly didn't want to help her any further than getting her to stay here.

Kirova threw up her hands. "You see? Completely undisciplined! All the psychic bond and very _raw_ potential in the world can't make up for that. A guardian without discipline is worse than no guardian." As much as I agreed with that statement, I wasn't about to admit it.

"So teach her discipline. Classes just started. Put her back in and get her training again."

"Impossible. She'll still be hopelessly behind her peers." I could have sworn it was almost like Kirova was under some sort of spell, a spell that was trying to make her send Rose away, but she had to have no other alternative, spell or no.

"Then give her extra training sessions," I said. No one could argue that she needed them anyway.

"Who's going to put in the extra time? Kirova demanded. "You?"

I stopped. No! I hadn't wanted this. I just wanted Vasilisa, who was apparently _my_ charge now too, to have a good guardian. Kirova thought I was the best choice, but I had to disagree. "Well that's not what I—"

She crossed her arms, satisfied. "Yes. That's what I thought."

I frowned. My gaze flicked over to the girls. There I saw their big pleading eyes, and I fought hard to remember they were reckless runaways. And when I looked at Rose…

"Yes," I said finally, but it wasn't what I wanted. But realizing that I did have the extra time to help Rose and that I strongly agreed all novices should have the chance to become a guardian, I had no choice. "I can mentor Rose. I'll give her extra sessions along with her normal ones."

"And then what?" Kirova retorted. "She goes unpunished?" She really wanted Rose to leave it seemed. Out of the corner of my eyes I saw Victor have a look of triumph on his face. Clearly he was behind wanting Rose to leave. But _why?_

"Find some other way to punish her." I wasn't about to let Rose leave just because she was a little reckless. And I certainly wasn't about to let her leave if Victor wanted her to. That would Vasilisa in even more risk. "Guardian numbers have gone down too much to risk losing another. A girl in particular." It always looked suspicious when a girl Moroi was being followed by two men—both of which were older than her most of the time.

Victor spoke next. "I'm inclined to agree with Guardian Belikov. Sending Rose away would be a shame, a waste of talent." I eyed him briefly. He wasn't fooling me, I read his face so easily, it was like someone had burned _I'm up to something_ across his forehead.

Kirova stared thoughtfully out the tinted window into the black night.

"Please Ms. Kirova. Let Rose stay." Vasilisa said when Kirova turned around and she met Vasilisa's eyes.

That was strange. Anyone would swear Vasilisa was actually trying to use _compulsion_ on Kirova. _No, _I told myself. That was stupid to think.

Finally, Kirova sighed. "If Miss Hathaway stays, here's how it will be." She face Rose. "Your continued enrollment at St. Vladimir's is strictly probationary. Step out of line _once_, and you're gone. You will attend all classes and required training for novice's your age. You will also train with Guardian Belikov in every spare moment you have—before _and_ after classes. Other than that, you are banned from all social activities, except meals, and you will stay in your dorm. Fail to comply with any of this. And you will be sent… away."

Rose gave out a harsh laugh. "Banned from all social activities? Are you trying to keep us apart? Afraid we'll run away again?"

_Yes_, I saw written all over Kirova's face. "I'm taking precautions. As I'm sure you recall, you were never properly punished for destroying school property. You have a lot to make up for." Her lips tightened even further. "You are being offered a very generous deal. I suggest you don't let your attitude endanger it."

Rose started to protest, but caught my eye. I tried to tell her she was an idiot if she tried to argue, and that I believe she could get through this, for Vasilisa. But I didn't think she got it.

After several moments, she exhaled heavily, looking back up to Kirova.

"Fine. I accept."


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry it took so long to upload new chapter guys. A lot harder to write a POV fan fic. Keep up the lovely reviews, they are my inspiration to keep going.**

**Disclaimer - You all know I don't own VA... If you hadn't guessed already... :)**

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**-Chapter 3-**

The girls were sent to class as soon as everything had been arranged. Rose didn't seem too happy about this, and I swiftly told her that we would begin our extra training sessions that afternoon. Her mood worsened at this news.

She was taken to one of the guidance counselors where she was given a new timetable. I took a quick look at it before taking her, with Alberta, to her first class. On the way, Alberta and I said nothing and Rose just walked behind us, looking extremely annoyed.

When we reached the gym, Alberta went back to her office and Rose and I walked inside. She looked around and I watched as everyone treated like some sort of rock star freak.

The moment Rose saw someone she knew, the silence broke. "Hey Mason, wipe the drool off your face. If you're going to think about me naked, do it in your own time."

Snorts and snickers erupted around the room. Mason Ashford was a red headed, freckly novice who had a lot of potential, but still had a lot to learn.

"This _is_ my time, Hathaway. I'm leading today's session." My point proven.

"Oh yeah?" Rose said. "Huh. Well I guess this is a good time to think about me naked, then."

"It's always a good time to think about you naked," Eddie Castile said. Like, Ashford, he had potential, but a lot to learn.

I shook my head and walked off. _This girl is going to give me hell,_ I muttered in Russian under my breath.

I didn't have any classes to watch over until the afternoon, so I headed to my room for some well earned rest, and then I remembered I needed to talk to Alberta and Kirova. I had to talk to them about the decision about me being Vasilisa's guardian.

When I walked into Kirova's office, Alberta was there—thankfully—but so was Victor Dashkov.

"Why wasn't I informed of this decision about me becoming Vasilisa's guardian before today?" I asked, staying calm despite the fact I wanted to demand the answer out of them.

"That was my decision, my boy," Victor spoke. "Once I was informed that you had found the girls, I told Headmistress Kirova that I wanted you for Vasilisa's sanctioned guardian. Even though she is still in school she should have at least one personal guardian, just to be safe. Don't worry, you will still continue your normal guardianship role here at the Academy until she graduates, it's just a precaution so we know her future is secure. We don't want anything else to happen to the last Dragomir princess, do you?"

"No, of course not, your highness." I spoke swiftly, not wanting my feeling about this, and Victor, to get the better of me. "I just wish someone had informed me before, instead of when I was in the room with her as she was finding out."

"Sorry about that," Victor said.

"Look at it this way Guardian Belikov," Kirova spoke now. "_If_ Rose manages to graduate and become the princess' guardian, then you would have been the one to train her. So with this new revelation of their 'bond' and each of you two knowing how the other operates, no two dhampirs will make better guardians for Vasilisa."

"I agree," Alberta said, standing to face me. "You helping Rose and then both of you guarding the princess will make you an unstoppable machine."

I sighed lightly under my breath. "I better bring Rose up to speed then, or Vasilisa will be stuck with me while Rose gets placed somewhere else. And I don't want to be the one Vasilisa is mad at if Rose isn't assigned to her, especially if I have to guard her."

"Exactly," Alberta told me, her short pixie-cut hair, shifting as she moved. "Don't worry Dimitri, I have faith in you. If anyone can get Rose ready for graduation, it's you."

I turned to leave, but Alberta stopped me. "Dimitri, if you could, would you guard Alto's next class?"

"Yes," Kirova said. "I need one of the guardians on that class to do something for me."

"Of course." That was Rose's next class, so it gave me the opportunity to see how far behind she really was.

I made it to Stan Alto's class moments before he did. Stan and I were very professional in dealing with each other, but we hadn't got on much. He always looked pissed off at everything and when he came in and saw Rose in her seat, I braced myself.

"What's this? No one told me we had a guest speaker. Rose Hathaway. What a privilege! How very _generous_ of you to take time out of your busy schedule and share your knowledge with us."

Rose's cheeks turned bright red, and she looked like she was about to make a spectacle of herself, until Stan gestured for her to stand.

Rose sunk further into her seat. "You don't really mean—"

"I mean _exactly_ what I say, Hathaway. Go to the front of the class." This really didn't look good. This was worse punishment than anything Kirova had given her. Stan, humiliating Rose in front of the class didn't give me any pleasure.

When Rose stood up, she saw the guardians at the back of the room, including me, and she looked even more embarrassed. Guardians did one-on-one guarding in the real world; here it was easier to watch the campus in groups. Rose locked eyes with me for a moment, took a deep breath and also braced herself.

"So Hathaway," Stan said to her, too cheerfully. "Enlighten us about you protective techniques."

"My… techniques?" Rose stumbled out, Stan knew what this was doing to her, and he was encouraging it. I wanted to hit him, but why? I knew as well as he did Rose deserved this for running away. I stood back, trying to enjoy myself.

"Of course. Because presumably you must have had some sort of plan the rest of us couldn't understand when you took and underage Moroi royal out of the Academy and exposed her to constant Strigoi threats."

It was like listening to Kirova again. Nobody was going to cut Rose any slack today. I didn't plan on it either this afternoon, but maybe…

"We never ran into any Strigoi," Rose said stiffly.

"Obviously," Stan snickered. "I already figured that out, seeing as how you're still alive."

Rose looked, again, like she was going to argue, but seemed to realize something. Stan had a point, Rose was careless just to take Vasilisa outside of the school, but she had to have taken some care not to run into any Strigoi. There are a few out there, and if they recognized Vasilisa, they would have killed her in a second.

Stan started pacing the front of the room when Rose didn't reply.

"So what'd you do? How'd you make sure she stayed safe? Did you avoid going out at night?" _Come on, Rose,_ I thought to myself, _of course you did, because even the youngest dhampir knows it's dangerous to go out wandering at night._

"Sometimes." I could have gone to the front of the room and hit her. But, for several reasons, I couldn't. I stood in my guardian stature and watched her take everything Stan threw at her.

"_Sometimes_," Stan mimicked. Now he was making Rose look like an idiot. "Well then, I suppose you slept during the day and stayed on guard at night."

"Er… no." Was all Rose could say.

"No? But that's one of the first things mentioned in the chapter on solo guarding. Oh wait, you wouldn't know that because _you weren't here_." That was just adding insult to injury. And oh, how I wanted to injure Stan at that moment.

Rose swallowed. "I watched the area whenever we went out," she said, defending herself.

"Oh?" Stan retorted. "Well that's something. Did you use Carnegie's Quadrant Surveillance Method or the Rotational Survey?"

Rose remained silent.

"Ah. I'm guessing you used the Hathaway Glance-Around-When-You-Remember-To Method."

"No!" Rose fought angrily. "That's not true. I watched her. She's still alive, isn't she?"

Stan walked over and got in Rose's face. "Because you got _lucky_." They were both right, Rose did get lucky, but she _must_ have taken some precaution for Vasilisa to still be alive; no guardian is _that_ lucky.

"Strigoi aren't lurking around every corner out there," she shot at him. "It's not like what we've been taught. It's safer than you guys make it sound." _Be careful, Rose,_ I thought, _there is a reason we teach you the things we do, make you believe it's not that safe._

"Safer? _Safer?_ We are at war with the Strigoi!" Stan had started yelling by this point. Just as well, or all the teaching methods guardians have spent centuries perfecting would be ruined by this one young, naive teenager. Stan got really close. "One of the them could walk right up to you and snap your pretty little neck before you even notice him—and he'd barely break a sweat doing it. You might have more speed and strength than a Moroi or a human, but you are nothing, _nothing_, compared to a Strigoi. They are deadly, and they are powerful. And do you know what makes them more powerful?" It was the same speech I would have given her; only mine was going to be less humiliating and less angry teacher.

I could have sworn Rose looked like she was about to cry. Her eyes rested at the back of the room, on me and the other guardians. I kept a stone face, I wasn't about to show sympathy to Rose, my speech might have been nicer, but at least Stan's had the element of punishment Rose deserved so much.

I heard her whisper something, but I didn't need to hear her to know what she said, every novice learnt the answer to that question from the moment they started school.

"What was that?" Stan asked, quite loudly, even though everyone in the room knew what she had said. "I didn't catch it."

Rose faced him again. "Moroi blood! Moroi blood makes them stronger."

Stan gave a satisfactory nod and stepped back. "Yes. It does. It makes them stronger and harder to destroy. They'll kill and drink from a human or dhampir, but they want Moroi blood more than anything else. They seek it. They've turned to the dark side to gain immortality, and they want to do whatever they can to keep that immortality. Desperate Strigoi have attacked Moroi in public. Groups of Strigoi have raided academies such as this one. There are Strigoi who have lived for thousands of years and fed of generations of Moroi. They're almost impossible to kill. And _that_ is why Moroi numbers are dropping. They aren't strong enough—even with the guardians—to protect themselves. Some Moroi don't even see the point in running anymore and are simply turning Strigoi by choice. And as the Moroi disappear…"

". . . so do the dhampirs," Rose finished. I cringed the tiniest bit. That was something I didn't like to think about if I could help it.

"Well," Stan went on, licking his lips. "It looks like you learned something after all. Now we'll have to see if you can learn enough to pass this class and qualify for your field experience next semester."

Field experience was a big deal as a novice. I remembered taking mine in Siberia. I hadn't been assigned my closest friend for mine, but I had done so well and then passed my trials that I had been allowed to guard Ivan after we had graduated. I knew exactly who Rose wanted to guard after graduation, there was no question.

I walked back across campus at the end of the period before lunch to Stan's classroom, and luckily found him there packing up.

"Belikov! Welcome back," he said to me like we were old buddies. "I believe congratulations are due. Nice work bringing Vasilisa and Rose back. _And_ becoming sanctioned guardian to the last Dragomir princess, I wish you luck".

"Thanks Alto." I grinned back but it wasn't a truthful one.

"You saw what happened in my senior class today, obviously."

"Yes. That's what I came to talk to you about actually—" I began, but he cut me off.

"Don't tell me you think she was in the right," he said surprised.

"No," I scoffed. "Of course not. She was stupid for taking away Vasilisa. And she deserves to be punished, but not the way you punished her."

He eyed me like I was insane.

"She was stupid. Yes." I paused. How to argue my point across? "Kirova has put her on probation, but from there, I think I should be the one who decides how she is punished, as I am her mentor."

"You're mentoring Rose Hathaway?" he asked surprised. "I wish you luck my colleague. She is a force to be reckoned with. But her mother was the same. She still is."

"That's beside the point Stan." I almost lost my control. "Rose and Vasilisa are back, they are safe—luck or no—and I will make sure Rose is ready for her field experience and trials. And I _will_ be the one to give out her punishment. So just, please, back off Rose. It will only make it harder for me to train her."

After a moment's thought, he spoke. "I see your point, as you are now Vasilisa's sanctioned guardian, and Rose is the best choice to guard her as well—_if_ she passes and gets to graduation—then you need to know where she's at, you need to know her and her tactics inside out."

I nodded in thanks to Stan. He was a guardian a long time ago, but, like me, his guardian had perished and he had been reassigned here at St. Vladimir's, becoming a teacher not long after. I trusted him for advice in situations like this, despite our differences.

I turned to leave, but had something else to talk to him about. "Alto," I began and he looked up at me from the papers on his desk he had started to sort through. "What's the deal with Victor Dashkov?" I didn't bother with formalities, Stan and I had the same view on royals. "Why was he so interested in Vasilisa?"

"He was a very close family friend to the Dragomir's; Vasilisa's parents, he and his wife were all very close at school. When they died they left everything to her. It was written in their will that Rose be her sanctioned guardian no matter what. After the stunt they pulled, though, I don't think that will be happening," he added with distaste. "Victor sort of took on a caring role, nobody really understood why he took so much interest in taking care of her, she was safe here at school and when she graduates, she will be old enough to take care of herself. She really doesn't need him to take her under his wing like he has."

"Thanks," I said. "I was only wandering because he was very _keen_ to have Vasilisa back. He didn't mind too much what happened to Rose. Until he was in Kirova's office with her, _then_ he tried to get her to stay here."

"Royals," Stan agreed. "They're all the bloody same."

"I suppose I feel lucky he won't rise to become king."

"Most definitely, my friend. Now if you don't mind, I have guard duty on the west perimeter next period and would like to get some lunch in beforehand."

We left his classroom together and parted ways when he said he had one thing he needed to do first. As I walked I found Rose heading towards the commons and started walking beside her.

"I suppose you saw what happened in Stan's class?" she asked bluntly.

"Yes."

"And do you think it was unfair?" That was a difficult question.

"Was he right? Do you think you were fully prepared to protect Vasilisa?" Not an exact answer to her question, but good enough.

She watched her feet more closely. "I kept her alive," was all she murmured. That was her answer to everything.

"How did you do fighting your classmates today?" The question wasn't meant to be as harsh as it was, I had in fact, watched her get beat up in the class after Stan's.

"If you can't fight _them—_"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," she snapped at me.

"You're strong and fast by nature," I told her after slowing down my stride to match her oddly slow one. "You just need to keep yourself trained. Didn't you play any sports while you were gone?"

"Sure," she shrugged. "Now and then." I could have slapped her. After everything I just went through with Stan, she was about to prove me wrong.

"You didn't join any teams?"

"Too much work. If I'd wanted to practice that much, I'd have stayed here."

I gave an exasperated look and seriously contemplated violently shaking some sense into her right there in the quad. "You'll never be able to really protect the princess if you don't hone your skills. You'll always be lacking."

"I'll be able to protect her," she fought back.

"You have no guarantees of being assigned to her, you know—for your field experience _or_ after you graduate." I wasn't going to be warm and fuzzy like she might have wanted. If she wanted to be assigned to Vasilisa then she had to work for it, and I was going to _make_ her work for it. "No one wants to waste the bond—but no one's going to give her an inadequate guardian either. If you want to be with her, then you need to work for it. You have your lessons. You have me. Use us or don't. You're an ideal choice to guard Vasilisa when you both graduate—if you can prove you're worthy. I hope you will." I was really getting used to this mentoring thing. And the way Rose treated her situation made me hopeful that she would take this seriously and try. I had hope for her.

"Lissa, call her Lissa." And most of my hope vanished. I simply walked away.


	4. Chapter 4

**I. Am. So. Sorry. I know it's been forever since I last updated (don't remind me how long exactly!), and I know you guys were really enjoying Dimitri POV. I feel terrible for not updating, so I am going to get the next chapter up as quick as possible . . . like, in the next day or two.**

**So I hope you enjoy this chapter, and please review too. Thank you so much to **_**shinythings22 **_**it was your review that told me, 'I gotta get back into this one.' I've just been paying a lot of attention to Searching for Roza. So enjoy!**

**I don't own VA, so go and thank the universe for Richelle Mead. Once you finish my new chapter obviously :P

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**-Chapter 4-**

As much as it amazed me that Rose was still so arrogant to her future, I had to push it aside for the afternoon. I watched in on two more classes without incident and when that was finished, I still had two hours before I had to meet Rose for practice. So I went back to my room.

As I walked through the hall before going upstairs, the girl at the reception waved my mail at me as she talked busily on the phone.

My room wasn't anything special. It had a comfortable bed, desk, bookshelf, chest of drawers and a small closet; all the wood they were made of matched. I saw that I had a letter from Ivan's partner, and one from my family. I put both letters on the desk, deciding to write replies to both of them later.

I changed into some tracksuits pants and then got comfy on the bed with my favorite western novel. I tried to fall asleep after a few chapters, but I couldn't do it. Rose. . . .

Of course I couldn't sleep because of her. She'd been in my life for no more than twelve hours and she had already turned it around. Of course, she'd been in my life long before that; I'd had to study up on her for months, trying to find her. But now that I had, it was hard not to think that maybe I had made a mistake bringing them back. Obviously Vasilisa—_Lissa_, I reminded myself—needed the protection of the Academy, but if bringing them back here only means more trouble for me and everyone else at the Academy, maybe we were all better off with them in the real world.

After two hours of no sleep—which added to nearly two days—I went over to the gym to meet Rose.

As soon as I reached the gyms' door, I had this suspicion that it would be pointless to go inside, and that I should have just gone to look for her elsewhere; but my hopes deceived me. I opened the door and she wasn't there. I was ten minutes late myself. I shut the door and went wandering around the school.

Finally, I saw Mason Ashford walking across campus by himself to his dorm room.

"Mr. Ashford!" I called out. He looked up to me and seemed startled by the fact I had directly spoken to him.

"Guardian Belikov," he said, a little nervous. "What's up—I mean, what can I do for you?"

"Have you seen Rose?"

"Oh," he went a little quieter. "Well, I think I saw her heading towards the front edge of campus, with Lissa, but I can't be certain." He was nervous to tell me the truth; he didn't want to get Rose into trouble, but he didn't want to lie to me.

I moaned, annoyed, under my breath. "Thank you, Ashford."

"Oh, and Belikov—Guardian Belikov," Mason continued, "thanks for putting in the extra time with Rose. I know she's a bit reckless, but she's got a lot of potential. When I saw she'd come back, I was worried they'd expel her and send her to some blood whore commune in Siberia or something. So when she said you'd helped her out by offering to catch her up, I was really glad."

His comment about the communes in Siberia had hit a nerve. Just like when Rose had called Kirova out on sending her to one somewhere that morning. But Ashford was just an arrogant novice, who still had _a lot_ to learn before he was ready to face the real world.

I also admired his affection for Rose. Nobody disallowed dhampir relationships, especially in high school. The way we were raised didn't allow us to feel very much. I knew very well that as much as I wanted children, my duties always came first. That day I found a way to have both, I was taking it; no question.

"It was no problem Mason," I said, dropping formalities. I turned away but he added one more comment.

"Dimitri." I turned back to him—ignoring his drop of formalities, too—hopefully for the last time. "Just, don't go too easy on her; she'll hate you for it."

I nodded and thought about that as I headed towards the upper campus' edge. As I got closer, I noticed Lissa and Rose were talking to each other in more frantic voices. Hoping they weren't planning another escape, I interrupted as Rose said something about 'No arguments'.

"Rose?"

They both turned to face me; something on their faces telling me I had intruded on something they didn't want overheard.

I tried to keep my voice as even as possible when I spoke, trying to ignore that they probably had been planning to escape again. But there was no way they were getting out a second time; not now that I was Lissa's sanctioned guardian.

"You're late for practice." Admittedly, I had been late too, but Rose would never need to know that. I politely nodded to Lissa and addressed her. "Princess."

As I walked back across campus, Rose close behind, I thought more about my lesson for today; Rose wasn't going to like it.

Suddenly, Rose's footsteps stopped behind me. I turned back to look at her, and her face was blank. At first it frightened me; her face was registering no emotion at all. It was a good few minutes before she snapped back to reality. I was beginning to wonder if I should have gone for help.

"Rose? Rose?" I asked as she blinked her way back into focus. "Are you alright?" I hadn't realized that I had taken a hold of Rose's shoulders, so I quickly let my hands drop.

"I . . . yeah. I was . . . I was with Lissa. . . ." She put a hand to her forehead, and I wondered if she was going to faint. She didn't, but I got myself prepared anyway. "I was in her head."

I was slightly taken aback. "Her . . . head?" I thought out loud.

"Yeah. It's part of the bond." There was more to it than that, but I let it go; for now.

"Is she alright?"

"Yeah, she's . . ." Rose hesitated. What did that mean? Was Lissa alright or wasn't she? Rose's initial vagueness worried me. But after a second she said, "She's not in danger." Rose looked like she was hoping the words herself, and I didn't trust to just let my guard down. Suddenly, Rose's immaturity began to really annoy me.

"Can you keep going?" I had hoped for the question to be more forceful, but it came out more gushy and sympathetic. She still looked like she was going to drop on the spot. She looked so vulnerable at that moment, and I was truly worried about her well being . . . because I had a fun—for me anyway—lesson plan ready to go this afternoon.

"Yeah. I'm fine." We walked the rest of the way across campus to the gym in silence.

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**What'd you think? I made it a short chapter for a good reason, so I could get the next one done quicker. So just let me know what you think, oh, and if you have any ideas, just let me know. The reason I haven't been updating is because I've gone brain-missing and have lost all the good ideas I had when I started. So please, give me your thoughts.**

**WIWR xx 3**


	5. Chapter 5

**I feel so terrible that my updates are so far between. . . . I worked all night getting this chapter done for you awesome readers! ****But guess what? No, seriously guess. Alright I'll tell you anyway . . . I'm am dedicating all my writing time to working on this fic until it's finished! I'm gonna pinky swear to not take longer than a week for an update on this story! (And you don't mess with a pinky swear!)**

**Thanks to: _Mordanyes, shinythings22, baseballshoppingmomma, et1141412, gracefish21, nevershoutneverluvr, AlwaysEmily _and_ The Anti-BusinessMan_ for reviewing this story and keeping me going, you're awesome :)**

**So if any of you have read my crossover fic called 'Searching for Roza' you will recognise one of the character's I made up in that. She doesn's fit this story exactly the same but I got it as close as I could.**

**Enjoy!**

**WIWR xx ;)**

**Disclaimer: I know it's been a while since my last update, but did you guys seriously already forget I don't own VA?**

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**-Chapter 5-**

I had the strangest feeling that whatever Rose had seen while in Lissa's head was bothering her—until she got changed and came into the gym. She'd put her personal worried aside for training, like any good guardian. Again, my hopes for her spiked. . . .

"Hey, Comrade," she said to me. "You don't think that maybe we could just skip this session for today?"

I laughed at her. Her comedic ways really needed to be brought into check.

"Why is that funny?"

"Oh," I said, letting my laughter fade. "You were serious." Goodbye short spurt of hope.

"Of course I was! Look, I've technically been awake for _two_ days. Why do we have to start this training now? Let me go to bed." She was whining, and all it did was irritate me. "It's just one hour."

What Rose didn't know, was that I had been planning to let her off for this afternoon. I had technically been awake for two days too and also needed some well earned rest. But now I realized it was exactly what she wanted.

I crossed my arms, looking down on her. I didn't know if 'tough love' was the right phrase for what I was about to do, but it was close enough. "How do you feel right now? After the training you've done so far?"

"I hurt like hell." Hmm.

"You'll feel worse tomorrow."

"So?" I internally began to laugh at her again.

"So, better to jump in now while you still feel . . ." I knew she grow angry and want to hit me if I said 'bad' so I substituted. "Not as bad."

"What kind of logic is that?" she scoffed out at me.

I turned and walked to the weight room, rolling my eyes once my back was to her. This was going to be interesting.

It took her the entire hour to finish the simple weights and reps I wanted her to do. I nearly finished my book when she sat up, heaving and sweating, telling me she was done.

As I showed her some cool down stretched, she tried to make conversation.

"How'd you end up as Lissa's guardian?" she asked. "You weren't here a few years ago. Were you even trained at this school?"

I didn't know if I should have answered her, or kept to the task at hand. I reasoned that since I knew most of her background, I should share this little piece of mine.

"No. I attended the one in Siberia." It was strange talking about me to her. I didn't talk to people about myself very often.

"Whoa. That's got to be the only place worse than Montana."

Again, I internally laughed at her. She wasn't the first person I'd met to believe Siberia was like an ice land. But she was the first to make such an open joke about it.

"After I graduated I was a guardian for a Zeklos lord. He was killed recently." Thinking about Ivan, especially _talking_ about him, made my stomach sink. "They sent me here because they needed extras on campus. When the princess turned up, they assigned me to her, since I'd already be around. Not that it matters until she leaves campus."

I'd never shared so much about myself to any one person before, let alone in one go.

"Did this lord die on your watch?" Her question wasn't accusatory like so many others had been after Ivan's death. Everybody was so ready to jump the gun and believe that I was the reason Ivan was dead—that I was incompetent. I never bothered to answer any of them because they always made it an accusation. Maybe that was why I did answer Rose.

"No. He was with his other guardian. I was away."

Ivan had business to take care of in my hometown; business that didn't involve having his partner coming along. I knew he was just making an excuse for me to see my family. The one day Strigoi come into the village, Ivan relieves me, ordering me to see my family for the day.

I would never forgive myself for that. I knew the guardian I worked with wasn't as competent as I was. He was younger and a less skilled. But I believed Ivan was safe. It was Baia; Strigoi so rarely came into town to feed, usually preferring the big cities or the roads leading in and out of town to feed.

"Hey," Rose said to me, suddenly chirpier. She was trying to cheer me up. "Did you help come up with the plan to get us back? Because it was pretty good. Brute force and all that."

I arched my eyebrow at her. This girl was so strange. "You're complimenting me on that?" I voiced my thoughts.

"Well, it was a hell of a lot better than the last one they tried."

Huh? "Last one?"

"Yeah. In Chicago. With the pack of psi-hounds."

"This was the first time we found you. In Portland." I was sure of it. When had the girls been in Chicago? Obviously they probably moved around more than once—that's what made them harder to find.

Rose sat up and crossed her legs, staring at me curiously. "Um, I don't think I imagined psi-hounds. Who else could have sent them? They only answer to Moroi. Maybe no one told you about it." I doubted that. And if it wasn't the school then . . . Some Moroi wanted Lissa. This worried me more than I could express. I had to talk with Alberta about this.

"Maybe," I told her, trying to make her believe she was probably right.

After training I made a quick stop at my room to change before going over to Alberta's office. That's when I remembered my mail.

I picked up the letter from Ivan's partner first.

_Dimitri,_

_I just wanted to check in on you, see how you're doing._

_It's been seven months and I haven't heard a word from you. Jess Voda told me you were searching for Princess Vasilisa and her novice friend that kidnapped her from campus. She's been telling me all about them, how they went missing about two years ago and no one's found them._

_Everyone believes that the last Dragomir has been killed because some foolish novice concocted some stupid plan to runaway._

_I hope they send that idiot child away to some bloody commune. Maybe that dingy one in Siberia._

_Anyway, please write me at once. I'm worried for you._

_Yours Sincerely,_

_Alice._

Alice Conta was Ivan's partner, he always joked that the two of them were engaged to be engaged. I guarded Ivan, she had her own guardians; she was royal too. She'd grown up in Australia and when I had first met her, she hadn't spoken a word of Russian, but she had decided to learn, for Ivan.

She didn't know what happened to me after Ivan's death and she never bothered to know where I had grown up. She treated me like any other guardian when Ivan was alive. Then after his death, that's when she wanted to know me. She offered for me to guard her, and we could have a life together. I turned her down because I knew I could never do that to Ivan.

She became my exception. I wanted a family and to be a guardian more than anything, but with her? I couldn't do it.

I yawned. The yawn was so deep I felt dizzy for a moment. I needed sleep. So badly.

I placed Alice's letter on the desk. I might reply later, I thought.

I walked over to my bed and slept in my t-shirt, jeans and duster.

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**Here's the goal: 25 reviews by my next update! That's not that hard!**

**Remember, I need you guys to keep reviewing because without you, I go into a funk (if you watch Glee you get that joke) and don't feel like writing :(**


	6. Chapter 6

**Wow. Can't believe I made it to six chapters :) I bet you thought I was never gonna get this far with the amount of space I was having between updates. Well, I hope we all enjoy this chapter.**

**I was a bit sad we didn't make it to 25 reviews before now. How sad-making :( Oh well, I know we can make 30 by my next update. Don't worry, I'm not gonna threaten to not update. I still will, I would just LOVE more reviews :)**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

**WIWR xx ;)**

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**-Chapter 6-**

When I awoke the next morning, I realized I was running extremely late. I had ten minutes before I had to start training with Rose. But, _God_ I was so tired.

I raced up and went to meet Rose, hardly showering and just putting on the clothes I had slept in. Switching day and night schedules was as bad as jetlag. I hated it, with a passion. Rose was going to pay for this.

When I met Rose, she looked in so much pain, but I didn't let that interfere with the grueling session I had planned—well, grueling for her, with the condition she was in—until she looked like she was about to pass out. I slowed down a bit, pretending that was what I had planned.

The next day, Kirova called me to her office during afternoon classes.

"Guardian Belikov, come in," she said when she saw me at the door. I walked in and she gestured for me to sit, but I remained in guardian stance in the middle of the room.

"Alberta said you wanted to discuss something to do with Rose, Headmistress Kirova?" I asked, remaining as professional as possible.

"Yes, yes," she began. "Rose came to me earlier asking me if her 'probation' involved her not being allowed to go to church. I told her she could attend Sunday service, but I just wanted to hear your thoughts on this."

Church? Rose, at church? This was not something I expected from her. She hadn't said anything, so why would she want . . . oh. Kirova believed Rose was using it as an excuse to socialize. And that's what she wanted me to say. Well, Rose had showed some determination and commitment during our last two days. Why not give her something she could work to keep.

"If Rose wants to attend church, why is it my concern? It's her faith." I could always change my mind if Rose got less committed.

Kirova didn't look happy with my answer, but nodded and dismissed me anyway.

When I arrived at church on Sunday, I found Rose there, chatting away with some of the other students, like I had expected.

I sat in the back, the same place I always had since coming to St. Vladimir's. Once the service started I listened for a few moments, but soon found myself lost in my own thoughts. Ivan was always the first person who came to my mind. But today, it was Rose. I glanced over at her. She clearly wasn't paying much attention to the priests' words. Even less than me most likely. I thought about how hard she seemed to be working to catch up to her classmates in just the few short days we'd been training.

I stared behind the priest, at the stain glass window behind him. The moonlight from outside made a pretty glistening effect, but I knew it was magnificent during daylight hours. I watched the stain glass St. Vladimir shine onto the walls beside the window, getting lost in the patterns and colors it made on the bricks. For one brief moment the light shone just the right way to make a rose pattern. I smiled the tiniest bit, thinking about how far behind her classmates she was.

I'd watched in on at least two of her classes every day. I'd learnt that she was no match for any of her partners in her first period class. In second period, she didn't know an answer to a single question Stan asked because he always asked ones she hadn't learnt in her own time yet, and he never asked the same one twice. She couldn't lift half as much weight as the boys on any of the machines in her weights class, even being a girl she should have been doing more. And the only afternoon class she seemed to be close to her classmates in was Slavic art; because nobody did _anything_ in that class.

Suddenly graduation seemed to close. I didn't know if I could get her caught up in that time. And that thought worried me. I didn't want to see Rose's potential talents wasted. And I certainly didn't want to see her end up as some blood whore, dependant on Moroi to feed off of her.

Before my thoughts could go any further, the service concluded and everyone stood up to leave. I joined them.

As I walked out I notice Rose turn back to talk to the priest. Maybe Kirova and I had been wrong about her intentions. And then I remembered her distant attitude during the service.

I walked out the door and past Lissa, who was talking to another young Moroi boy. Something about guardians getting together. I went and stood near Alberta.

"Did you hear about Joshua, Abby and Xander Badica's guardian?" I shook my head. Was I about to learn what Lissa had been talking to that boy about? "He's resigning to run off with another guardian."

I raised my eyebrows high. "Yeah," Alberta continued. "Now I don't have a problem with dhampir's being together romantically, but to run off together. It's not just about what they want. They've now left two families with one less guardian each. How could it get any more ridiculous?" I nodded in agreement with Alberta. I hadn't really taken in her words, but understood what she meant. It was terrible that dhampir's couldn't have kids with each other. But why abandon your charge for that?

Alberta had to leave to her office a moment later, so we said goodbye and she walked off.

I looked over to where Rose was standing, just keeping an eye on her.

Before I had time to blink, a wad of snow from the chapel's roof slid down and landed all over Lissa and Rose; Lissa taking the most of it. I heard yelps and squeals as students leapt aside.

Lissa was completely drenched—her hair clinging to the side of her face as her teeth chattered away. I made my way over to the girls and saw Rose offer Lissa her own jacket. Once she removed it, I saw how light weight Rose's shirt was. She must have been freezing as she stood there, holding Lissa's wet jacket as she changed. She avoided eye contact with everyone.

I left it to Rose and walked away, knowing my interference would only make things worse. I took the long way around to the dhampir dorms; I wanted to make sure Rose went back to her dorm, but not stalk her there.

I went over ten minutes later and straight to the front desk. Just before I asked the dorm matron if Rose had come back, I saw her sitting at one of the corner tables with Mason Ashford. They had their noses in an old book. I raised an eyebrow at the matron.

"Some group project," she explained. "I said she has an hour as long I can see she's actually working."

I nodded at her and left, making my way to my own room. I had to give it to Rose. Attending services? A group project? She was a pretty convincing liar.

I went back to my dorm and slept for another few hours before my late afternoon shift on the North West border. When I woke up, the last remnants of my schedule shift jetlag were gone.

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**Thanks a ton to: _baseballshoppingmomma, et1141412, Miiz April _and_ Mordanyes _for reviewing my last chapter :D**

**Especially _Mizz April_ for being an awesome friend and constantly reminding me I've gotta get my next update done :P**

**Keep reading and reviewing! :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry it took longer. I know, I pinky swore. But it's so not my fault. A friend borrowed my book and I forgot I needed it to write! lol.**

**Anyway, got it back (pretty quickly actually) and finished my new chapter.**

**Hope it was worth the wait!**

**WIWR xx ;)**

**P.S. Still don't own VA. Sad-faced :(**

**P.P.S. WHO'S EXCITED ABOUT THE VA MOVIE? I KNOW I AM! TAYLOR KITSCH FOR DIMITRI BELIKOV! If you don't know who that is, google him! ;P**

**P.P.P.S. (lol) If you were one of the readers of 'Of Course It's Yours' (you know if you are) then the list of people are on my profile. If you want a PM when I get it back up, MAKE SURE YOU'RE ON THAT LIST!**

**P.P.P.P.S. (last one I swear) I am now a beta reader. Just letting you all know. I think my work speaks for itself. Coz I don't have beta. But if you're looking for one, check me out if you want :)**

**That's it, I'm done. Enjoy . . .**

* * *

**-Chapter 7-**

After a few weeks of practice, Rose started to improve. We fell into a routine and as her stamina and endurance improved, our sessions got harder, much to Rose's discretion. She was still getting her ass kicked during her classes, but I knew it didn't hurt as much.

One morning I went over the gym early and put a mat out on the floor, tuned the radio on the portable CD player that had mysteriously shown up and laid out, reading my favorite Louis L'Amour book.

"Whoa," Rose said over near the door. I hadn't even heard her come in. "I realize this is actually a current hit in Eastern Europe right now, but do you think we could maybe listen to something that wasn't recorded before I was born?"

I flicked my eyes towards her. "What does it matter to you? I'm the one who's going to be listening to it. You'll be outside running."

She made a face and started to stretch. Over the last few weeks I had been learning how far my tolerance would stretch. When she started slacking off in training would my tolerance not go any further, otherwise, her running commentary was okay. It kept trainings . . . interesting.

"Hey," she began as she changed stretches, "what's with all the running, anyway? I mean, I realize the importance of stamina and all that, but shouldn't I be moving on to something with a little hitting? They're still killing me in group practice."

I knew that. I watched her get pummeled four times in the last week. "Maybe you should hit harder." I wasn't always quiet and serious with her. If she wanted to give me snarky comments, I was always willing to give her my own back.

"I'm serious." I felt myself begin to smile, but held it back. Her being serious was so rare, it amused me a lot.

"Hard to tell the difference." Score two for me. I set my book down, but didn't get up. "My job is to get you ready to defend the princess and fight dark creatures, right?"

"Yup." Time to really think about reality and what would have happened to her if she wasn't so lucky out in the real world.

"So tell me this: suppose you manage to kidnap the her again and take her off to the mall. While you're there, a Strigoi come at you. What will you do?"

"Depends what store we're in."

I looked at her. _Please_ let this work.

"Fine. I'll stab him with a silver stake."

I sat up, crossing my legs. "Oh?" I raised my eyebrows at her. "Do you have a silver stake? Do you even know how to use one?"

I knew her classmates were just learning how to use them. I specifically told her instructors she wasn't allowed near one. I waited for her to give me the other two options for killing a Strigoi, my responses ready.

"Okay. I'll cut off his head."

"Ignoring the fact you don't have a weapon to do that, how will you compensate for the fact he may be a foot taller than you?"

Rose straightened and lent down, touching her toes. She was obviously annoyed. "Fine," she said into her knees, "then I'll set him on fire."

I resisted the urge to sigh. "Again, with what?" She really wasn't thinking this through before she answered me.

"Alright," she said, resigned. "I give up. You've already got the answer. You're just messing with me. I'm at the mall and I see a Strigoi. What do I do?"

I looked at her, not taking my gaze away. "You run."

Rose looked like she wanted to hurt me—_bad_.

"Come on. I'll run with you today," I told her. Her mood seemed to lift by this news.

The sun set over the mountains as evening grew closer, giving it an ominous glow while we ran. I noticed Rose was a bit slower than I was, so I slowed my pace to match hers; and she quickly picked up. I wanted to give her more encouragement, in trying to impress me, she was probably going to beat her best time—something she hadn't done in four days—but I could see the extra effort was taking the wind out of her, and the last thing I wanted to have happen to her was for her to pass out. Too much paperwork.

As we came closer to the end of her laps, some other novices in Rose's class walked by. I recognized Mason Ashford. "Good form, Rose!" he called out to her.

Rose, completely out of breath and unable to say anything smiled and waved to him. I lost some of my patience.

"You're slowing down," I commented. I think it came out more like a snap, which I hadn't intended. "Is this why you're times aren't getting any faster? You're easily distracted?"

She blushed the slightest bit in the cold and increased her speed for the second time. I was amazed my tough-tactic had worked. I was more amazed by the fact she was actually running pretty fast. While the run was as easy for me as breathing, her breathing became slightly labored and I could see the pain in her body all over her face. For a moment, I wanted to stop, to tell her she didn't have to run anymore, to get rid of that pain filled look she wore. The moment was quickly over, and ii returned to my mentor train of thought.

When we finally finished, Rose had scrapped two minutes off her best time. The greatest improvement yet.

"Not bad, huh?" she proclaimed as we walked back towards the gym. "Looks like I could as far as the Limited before the Strigoi got me at the mall. Not sure how Lissa would do," she added thoughtfully.

"If she was with you, shed be okay."

She looked up at me . . . surprised? Yes, of course. I was pretty sure it was the first proper compliment I'd given her. I almost regretted the words as soon as they came out, but decided she deserved _something_ after today's effort. I watched her eyes on mine, trying to show her my approval.

Next thing I see was pain.

Rose looked like she'd been stabbed or something. "Rose?" I called to her, reaching out an arm as she began to drop. She was in Lissa's head. But this experience was painful. It appeared to put her in more pain than the running.

My worry for her increased as the pain on her face grew stronger. And, just as suddenly, the pain disappeared, like it was never there in the first place. In an instant, Rose bolted away from me—toward the Moroi dorms. Intent on reaching Lissa, she didn't answer my cries. Just before I caught up to her, Lissa came tearing into view; tears covering her face while she sobbed and ran.

Rose grabbed Lissa's arms and tried to ask Lissa what was wrong, but when Lissa started to sob into her chest, her need to know vanished as she comforted her friend. I stayed close, keeping myself ready for attack.

When Lissa finally calmed down, she tried to tell us what was going on. "It . . . it was . . . Oh God . . . The poor thing." She burst into tears once again, and this time, I put my hands on her arms.

"Lissa," I said, being a firm as I could without becoming aggressive, "you have to tell me what's wrong. Is it in your room?" All she did was nod.

We walked over to Lissa's dorm room in silence. I led the way as Rose followed behind, Lissa clinging to her arm.

When we reached the door, I signaled for the girls to stay behind me. The door was open the tiniest bit, so I pushed it slowly. The old wooden door creaked on it hinges. Lissa coiled into Rose's shoulder. When the door opened all the way, I looked at the room. Natalie's full, messy side was obviously the left. While Lissa's noticeably bare living space was very plain. Except for the fox sitting on the pillow.

It was a usual orange color with a hint of white, like any normal fox. Except for the large amount of red. The blood from it slit throat.

I called Alberta straight away. "Get down to Princess Lissa's dorm, now. Bring Kirova and a few guardians."

A half hour later, we all stood around the bed, staring at the fox.

"How did this happen?" Alberta said firmly. "Guardian Belikov?" she asked, turning on me, like it was my fault!

"I . . . I don't know, Guardian Petrov," I told her sincerely. "Rose and I were training when . . ." I glanced at Rose, sitting and comforting Lissa. She wasn't supposed to be here, but her friend needed her, so I let it slide. I remembered there were guardians in the room, and young Moroi girls in the dorm, all surrounding and watching us, listening. And none of the new about Rose and Lissa's bond—something I had to make sure stayed that way. "When Lissa found us. She was crying and took us up here. Where we found the fox."

Alberta grew more frustrated.

Natalie walked into the room, finally managing to push past the girls surrounding the door, only to come to a shockingly sudden halt as she looked at Lissa's pillow. She looked from the fox to Lissa, to me, then sweeped the rest of the room with her eyes. Her face showed me something wasn't right; like she was more shocked by the commotion and the guardians, than the situation itself. Something about her look seemed wrong. Like it was the wrong reaction.

I pushed it aside and watched Rose and Lissa further, catching their last words. ". . . It's not the same. It has nothing to do with that. Do you hear me? It's going to be okay. Everything's going to be okay." Lissa nodded to her.

"Get this cleaned up," Kirova snapped. "And find out if anyone saw anything."

A few moments later I heard one of the other guardians, Lucas, I think, talking to Rose. "Miss Hathaway, what are you doing here?" he asked her. "Belikov!" he called to me. I walked over, knowing exactly what he was going to say. "Take Miss Hathaway back to her dorm room immediately." Always being ordered around. Lucas was a fair few years older than me, and had a lot more authority—I didn't have a choice.

I looked at solemnly. "Dimitri, please," she began, "let me stay with her"—she turned on Lucas—"just a little while longer."

"Miss Hathaway," Lucas told her, "You are already on probation, don't make things worse for yourself."

Before she could try anything else, I intervened. "C'mon, Rose." I tried doing then whole mentor tone thing, and I didn't think it worked, until Rose sighed in defeat.

I reluctantly walked Rose back to her room. Again, more silence surrounded us. When we were almost there, I spoke. "You know something. Something about what happened. Is this what you meant when you told Headmistress Kirova that Lissa was in danger?"

"I don't know anything. It's just some sick joke." That would have been believable in front of anyone but me.

"Do you have any idea who'd do it? Or why?"

She considered it for a moment. I waited for her answer.

"No," she said. "No clue." Now that I believed. But I had to make sure she would tell me if anything was wrong.

"Rose, if you know something, tell me. We're on the same side. We both want to protect her. This is serious."

"Yeah, it _is_ serious. It's all serious," she said, suddenly worked up and angry. I stayed calm; not without effort. "And you have me doing laps every day when I should be learning how to fight and defend her! If you want to help her, then teach me something! _Teach me how to fight_. I already know how to run away."

It was at that moment I truly realized how much she wanted to learn. I'd been underestimating her for weeks. I would teach her, but not now. "Come on. You're late for practice."

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**Thanks heaps to all the reviewers of chapter six! Most reviews for one chapter I think! =D**

_**shinythings22, Whitlock B, jeaniemaea, summergirlxx, Mordanyes, twimomlovesdimitri, Capribaby1228, baseballshoppingmomma **_**and_ et1141412._**

**You are all vamptastic (WOW! that's a lame word!) and no goal this chapter, I'm too happy with all the ones from the last chapter. But reviews are still nice.**


	8. Chapter 8

**So, I felt bad about my last chapter taking a little while, so I've put up the next one. Be warned, there is no Rose in this chapter shock horror! :O**

**It's just a quick chapter about Lissa and Dimitri showing their relationship growing and stuff. So, yeah. I know it's shorter, but I think you'll still enjoy either way.**

**Enjoy!**

**WIWR xx ;)**

**So, still don't own VA :( but if there was no Richelle Mead, there'd be no VA, so we must be thankful we were given her and this awesome story and these vamptastic (that's _still_ a really lame word) characters :)  
**

**

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-Chapter 8-**

I went back over to Lissa's dorm to find the fox gone, but the blood still all over the pillow and bedspread. Lissa was sitting on Natalie's bed, alone and obviously scared.

"Lissa?" I said softly, being precautious.

I flinched slightly with an intake of breath, startled I had noticed her there. Everyone was completely ignoring her, and she was the most important. I was a bit disgusted that she was left by herself in such a fragile state. I didn't think finding out who did this was more important than making sure Lissa was okay.

I sat down beside her and she moved over slightly. We sat side by side for a minute or so without saying a word. I got the sense she was more relaxed and felt safer with me beside her. It was a good start to our guardian-Moroi relationship. "I wish Rose could have stayed," she whispered after a moment longer.

"I know," I told her. "I wish I could have done something." I didn't need to be standing in on Rose's class to know she would be fighting harder than ever. Her anger had been burning inside her when I left her, practicing might actually be good for her. Save her fighting someone in the corridor.

Lissa nodded. "Do you have any idea who could have done this?" I asked. If Rose wouldn't tell me, maybe Lissa would.

She shook her head. "No. I'm sorry, I don't." She hadn't taken her eyes off the floor.

"It's okay," I said. "It's not your fault."

"Then why did this happen to me?" she asked. I wish I had an answer for her.

"'It's just some sick joke,'" I said, mimicking Rose's earlier words.

She let out a single laugh. "That sounds like something Rose would say." I smiled, but she didn't see it, her eyes still locked to the carpet beneath her.

"Miss Dragomir," Kirova called over, finally noticing us. "I would like you to stay here for a while longer, we have some questions." Lissa still didn't look up, but nodded.

Once Kirova's attention was turned, I spoke to Lissa. "Lissa," I began, "are you sure you don't know anything? There's nothing you need to tell me?"

She took in a breath and turned her head slightly towards me. I waited for her to answer. "No," she said, letting out her breath. She was lying. There was definitely something both girls weren't telling me, but rather than upset Lissa any further, I decided to keep trying at Rose. I needed to know what they weren't telling me, for Lissa's sake.

"Come on," I whispered. She finally looked up at me, confused. "You're going to be late to class."

I stood up and lightly grabbed her lower arm, to make her follow me. She didn't budge. I could have made her, but what was the point? "We can't!" she whispered. "Kirova wants me to stay here and—"

"Lissa," I told her, moving closer to her again, "I am your guardian and I decide what's best for you. And I know that letting you stay here to be harassed by Headmistress Kirova is not good for you, especially when you clearly don't know anything. I wouldn't be a very good guardian if I let you stay, right?" She gave a sort of half-shrug, half-shake of the head. "Then, come on."

She sighed and looked around at the room. Nobody was paying attention, just trying to figure out who could have done this. Lissa looked back at me and stood up. I pulled her out of the room and no one noticed; all the Moroi girls who had been peering in had gone to class.

As we walked across the dead campus, Lissa stuck close to me; probably afraid of any more dead animals showing up in places. I was angered by how much she had been upset. Another student intentionally upsetting my charge wasn't okay with me. I would find out who did this to her, and they were going to pay.

It could mean anything. Was someone threatening her? Or, like Rose said, were they just playing some sick joke on the Dragomir princess. But if was a joke, then surely there would be bragging. No body plays a joke like that if they don't want any credit for it. I would be paying much closer attention to Lissa's classmates.

We stopped outside the door to her first class; it was also the class I was watching in on today. I'd intentionally traded with one of the other guardians that I had passed on the way back to Lissa's dorm; switching watching Rose's class, for Lissa's instead.

"Lissa, you know you always have someone to talk to. Rose and I are always here for you." She nodded, staring at her feet. "You're may be my charge but that doesn't mean I don't care about you. Remember that. And if you ever need me, for anything, you come and find me, okay?" She nodded again.

She turned to walk in the classroom, but I grabbed her arm to stop her. "Lissa, are you okay?" In all the commotion, I didn't know if anybody had actually asked how _she_ was coping with all this. She looked up at me, surprised. She finally believed everything I had told her about trusting me. A fresh wave of tears began to settle on the bottom of her eyelids.

Then she moved into me, hugging my waist, as she cried into my chest. I was stunned at first, but momentarily put my arms around her. I stroked her hair and her gripped tightened slightly. After a few more moments, she let go and wiped the tears away from her face. I studied her for a moment.

"You don't have to go in if you don't want," I said.

"No," she said. "I have to. It'll only make things worse. Besides, it's what Rose would do." I smiled at her, letting out a slight laugh.

I wiped away a single drop of a tear that was lingering on her jaw line and looked her in the eye. "I'll only be five feet away if you need me."

She nodded again. "Thankyou, Dimitri." Taking a deep breath, she opened the door.

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**Thanks heaps to:**

**_et1141412, amberrosalie, Whitlock B, Mordanyes, natalie9083 _and_ twimomlovesdimitri_ for the awesome reviews of chapter 7!**

**Don't forget, if you like it, please review so I know people want me to post more :)  
**


	9. Chapter 9

**YAY! _FINALLY_ got the next chapter up :) So sorry it took me so long. I wanted to make it absolutely perfect! Coz this is the chapter I've been waiting to write! :P And it has definately been my favourite.**

**Btw, me and my close friend, _Mizz April,_ are having a little competition. She is writing a Gossip Girl fic and she has nearly sixty reviews and only seven chapters. So we're both trying to see who can get more. So, if you want me to win (which of course you do!) please review and tell me what you think. But no pressure, no one is being forced to review!**

**WIWR xx ;)**

**V.A is STILL not mine. But just wait, eventually I'll have it :)**

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**-Chapter 9-**

I spent the rest of the day after my shift in Lissa's class in Kirova's office.

"She was supposed to stay for questioning!" Kirova lectured me.

"And I told you, she didn't know anything," I said to Kirova, remaining as calm as possible, but my patience for today had worn _very_ thin.

"You couldn't possibly know that!" she argued. "She should have been questioned by _older, wiser_ guardians who have had years experience dealing with these sorts of issues! Not young, ignorant, barely graduated _mentors_!" She really was pissed off.

"I'm supposed to be her guardian, am I not?" I argued back.

"Well, it would appear your fate as the princesses guardian remains as clear as Miss Hathaway's, for the moment."

"So if I'm supposed to be her guardian than aren't I supposed to do what's best for her?" Kirova stood silent for a moment, allowing me to continue. "Well I decided what was best for a distraught young Moroi princess, who has a strong love for animals, to be as far away from that room as possible!" My voice had grown louder and turned into a yell of its own.

While Kirova thought of her retort, we were interrupted by a knock at the door. Christian Ozera. I knew him well. Well, I knew his aunt well; we were very old, very great friends.

"Yes, Mr. Ozera, what can I do for you?" Kirova asked, lowering her voice. The slightest hint of annoyance escaped in her tone.

I shifted sideways slightly to allow Christian to stand beside me in front of Kirova's desk. "I set Ralf Sarcozy on fire, Miss," he said, maybe with a bit too much glee.

I could see Kirova losing her temper, despite the extremely calm look she wore. "You what?"

Christian's smile grew. Oh no. I definitely needed to get out of this room.

"Set Ralf Sarcozy on fire," Christian said. "But I didn't burn him. He's perfectly okay."

I raised my eyebrow at him. Where had he learnt that kind of spell? Oh, of course. Tasha. She was going to be in some serious trouble if she kept teaching her nephew spells like that.

I began to back out of the room, guardian silent. "Don't even think about it, Belikov!" Kirova yelled. _Damn it_.

And so it went on. For another hour I stood in Headmistress Kirova's office listening to her rants bounce back and forth between me and Christian. I remained quieter this time, not wanting to lose my temper in front of a student, even if it was Christian. Finally, Kirova suspended Christian and told me to never be so stupid and reckless with the princess again.

"I think Hathaway is rubbing off on you, Belikov," she muttered to herself as I walked out.

I walked silently later that night, letting the early morning sun soak into me. I passed a janitor and didn't even realize he was there until he spoke to me.

"Excuse me, sir," he said, a little creepily. "But I believe I saw that a young dhampir girl and a Zeklos child go into an empty lounge in the dhampir dorm."

I groaned—more problems for me. "Okay. How long ago and which lounge was it?"

"The one on the second floor about ten, maybe fifteen minutes ago."

"Thank you. I will take care of it."

I made my way over to Rose's dorm. No way could it be her that the janitor was talking about, she was under strict house arrest.

I heard voices as I approached the door and didn't hesitate to burst through. I stood frozen for a moment at what I saw. Rose and that same Zeklos kid I'd seen her heavily flirting with over the last few weeks.

Rose was in her jeans and a bra, her shirt a few feet from her. Zeklos remained clothed.

Instantly, my anger spiked. I couldn't describe exactly what I was feeling, but it pushed my anger and patience over the edge. I grabbed the Zeklos kid and pinned him against the far wall, almost dangling him by his shirt.

"What's your name," I ordered, letting my anger show through.

I imagined hanging him from a nail on a wall outside in the quad—in his underwear.

"J-Jesse, sir. Jesse Zeklos, sir." Oh, of course. He was closely related to Ivan, well, as closely as royal relations get without being directly down the line.

"Mr. Zeklos," I said, "do you have permission to be in this part of the dorm?"

"No, sir." This kid was scared. Good. Maybe it would stop him from taking advantage of my student in future.

I pictured me removing every last hair on his body, individually.

"Do you know the rules about male and female interactions around here?"

"Yes, sir." I think I got just a little angrier. I imagined myself hanging him by his Achilles over some cliff with the ocean crashing beneath. Then I pictured the scene with no ocean.

"Well, then I suggest you get out as fast as you can before I turn you over to someone who will punish you accordingly. If I ever see you like this again"—I pointed towards Rose, half dressed and scared stiff on the couch—"_I_ will be the one to punish you. And it will hurt. A lot. Do you understand?"

Zeklos swallowed hard, his eyes going wider than my fist. "Yes, sir!" I imagined tying him to a chair and driving nails through his legs, then wiring the nails to a power outlet and turning the lights on and off.

I got a little closer to his face, lowering my voice. "Then _go_." I let him go and he moved almost as fast as a Strigoi. I turned to Rose. I knew if I spoke I would begin yelling again, so I remained silent, and let all my anger and disappointment show through without words. I think I was mostly disappointed that it was Rose I had found. Did this mean I had failed as a mentor?

And then I stopped.

It was like I was really noticing her. I observed her in her jeans and black bra. I didn't think I'd seen any girl make a plain black bra look _that_ good. I watched her as she cowered, scared for a moment, before she became embarrassed as she noticed me watching her. What was she thinking? That I was checking her out? No, I was simply observing. I couldn't be checking her out, she was my student, I was her mentor and thoughts like that were wrong.

Yet, as I stared at her, I thought about the first time I saw her. I watched her give her blood for Lissa, watched her succumb to that toxic Moroi bite. I watched her try to fight me off as the effects of the feeding took its hold on her.

"See something you like?" Rose threw at me, all her embarrassed feelings gone, or just covered up.

"Get dressed."

I hardened back to the look I wore before, and Rose hastily put her top back on. She seemed uneasy. . . . Because I was watching her?

"How'd you find me? You following me to make sure I don't run away?" She was definitely nervous about something.

"Be quiet," I snapped to her. Didn't she realize the situation I'd just found her in? I leaned down to put us at eye level. "A janitor saw you and reported it. Do you have any idea how stupid this was?" I was beyond disappointed in her. I was worried to, just because Zeklos looked scared didn't mean he wouldn't tell.

"I know, I know, the whole probation thing right?"

I resisted the urge to sigh, or groan. If I hadn't have shown up who knows what trouble she would have gotten herself into. Then I really would have failed as her mentor.

"Not just that. I'm talking about the stupidity of getting yourself in _that_ kind of situation in the first place."

"I get in _that_ kind of situation all the time, Comrade. It's not a big deal." She was getting angrier, probably thinking I was treating her like a child. It was worse than that; I was treating her like a stupid teenager.

"Stop calling me that," I snapped, trying to think of something mentor-like to say about the situation. "You don't even know what you're talking about."

"Sure I do. I had to do a report on Russia and the R.S.S.R. last year."

"_U_.S.S.R." How did we even get onto this? I focused back on the problem at hand. "And it _is_ a big deal for a Moroi to be with a dhampir girl. They like to brag."

"So?" I, once again, resisted the urge to groan.

"_So_?" I said, maybe showing a little disgust. I honestly wasn't all that sure about how I was feeling about this entire situation. "So don't you have any respect? Think about Lissa." Hopefully if Lissa was brought into the argument, she might listen, that always seemed to work. And I was tired of her lack of care. It was about time she grew up and realized the extent of this life she was choosing. "You make yourself look cheap. You live up to what a lot of people already think about dhampir girls, and it reflects back on Lissa. And me."

If she didn't listen to me I was going to start swinging. This was getting old.

"Oh, I see. Is that what this is about? Am I hurting your big, bad male pride? Are you afraid I'll ruin your reputation?"

She was making it really hard for me. But I couldn't hit her, not just for my sake. If I hit her not only would I be fired, but she'd lose the only person at this school who actually gave a damn in helping her.

"My reputation is already made, Rose. I set my standards and lived up to them long ago. What you do with yours remains to be seen. Now get back to your room—if you can manage it without throwing yourself at someone else." Would adding _that_ make her think twice next time.

"Is that your subtle way of calling me a slut?"

"I hear the stories you guys tell. I've heard stories about you." By God, if I had to slap it out of her I would.

Maybe I had been a bit harsh. I thought about apologizing until Rose looked at me, and her look changed. She went from snarky and bitchy to . . . a little broken. I thought about all the faith I had in her, the hope. I thought about all the times I should have praised her and compliment her when she deserved it. And now it was all gone. This was my entire fault. If she'd been given just that little bit more praise . . . maybe none of this would have happened—I had failed her as a mentor.

Blinking back tears, Rose broke the silence. "Why is it wrong to . . . I don't know, have fun? I'm seventeen, you know. I should be able to enjoy it." I wished she could. My guardian nature softened as I wished I could let her go out and have a normal human or even Moroi life. Someone like her deserves the freedom of Moroi.

Wait a minute, I thought, looking around and reminding myself of the situation I had just found her in, she doesn't deserve freedom. Looking at the mess of her she deserves way more punishment.

"Your seventeen, and in a year, someone's life and death will be in your hands," I said firmly, but some of that care I was feeling seeped through. Hoping she hadn't noticed, I continued, "If you were human or Moroi, you could have fun. You could do thing that other girls could."

"But you're saying that I can't."

I had to look away, she was reminding me too much like myself at her age; I did a lot better in school, but I always wanted to be able to have fun, to party like the other guys, like Ivan did. "When I was seventeen, I met Ivan Zeklos. We weren't like you and Lissa, but we became friends, and he requested me as his guardian when I graduated. I was the top student in my class. I paid attention to everything in my classes, but in the end, it wasn't enough. That's how it is in life. One slip, one distraction . . ." I sighed. It was my entire fault. Everything was my fault. "And it's too late."

"Jesse's a Zeklos," Rose said after a moment.

"I know." That's what made me madder, he was so much like Ivan when we were at school, and because he was my friend I let him trash around dhampir girls.

"Does it bother you? Does he remind you of Ivan?"

I wanted to tell her, but what was the point? She was just my student.

"It doesn't matter how I feel. It doesn't matter how any of us feel."

"But it does bother you." Woah. "You hurt. Every day. Don't you? You miss him."

For a moment, I was scared. And I knew my surprise was showing on my face. Rose had figured out how I was feeling despite trying to hide it. For a moment, I was terrified.

"It doesn't matter how I feel. _They_ come first. Protecting them."

"Yeah. They do."

A long silence followed and I thought.

"You told me you want to fight, to _really_ fight. Is that still true?"

"Yes. Absolutely." She'd better be prepared.

"Rose . . . I can teach you, but I have to believe you're dedicated. Really dedicated. I can't have you distracted by things like this." I gestured around the room. "Can I trust you?"

I wouldn't be asking if I couldn't. It was as simple as that. That's why I waited until now to ask this. I had to wait until I _knew_.

"Yes. I promise."

"All right. I'll teach you, but I need you strong. I know you hate running but it really is necessary. You have no idea what Strigoi are like. The school tries to prepare you, but until you've seen how strong they are, and how fast . . . well, you can't even imagine." It was why we made novices believe the outside world is so dangerous. We were trying to keep them alert and alive. "So I can't stop the running and the conditioning. If you want to learn more about fighting, we need to add more trainings. It'll take up more of your time. You won't have much left for your homework or anything else. You'll be tired. A lot."

I had to tell her. I couldn't tell her it would be okay in the long run if she wasn't willing to hurt right now.

She thought for a moment. _Please_, I thought, please don't let her turn around and tell me off like another Rose I knew would. "It doesn't matter. If you tell me to do it, I'll do it."

I wanted to hug her. I lift her up and give her a million praises. I continued to study her for a moment, making sure I could trust her words. I gave her a sharp nod, satisfied with her willingness. "We'll start tomorrow."

* * *

**Thanks: _jeaniemaea, Jazminion, et1141412, natalie9083, baseballshoppingmomma, amberrosalie, shinythings22, dimitri's girl 11, mad-bout-horses-nd-cowboys, dimiksgirl123._**

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	10. Chapter 10

**Sorry about the time it's been taking me to update. I've been feeling a little down about my writing lately, like maybe it's not that good. So, no guarantees that this one will be any good.**

**Btw, me and my good friend _Miiz April_, (yes, I was promptly informed by _Miiz April_ herself that I spelt it wrong) are still trying to see who has more reviews on their stories. She is now 21 reviews in front of me. Very sad-making :'( Please help me :)**

**Anyway, hope this chapter was worth the wait,**

**WIWR xx ;)**

**V.A? Not mine :(**

**Sorry it's shorter, makes it easier to update the next chapter sooner, plus I had to merge chapters 10 and 11 from the book. There is no Dimitri in chapter 10 and I had no idea what to write.**

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**-Chapter 10-**

The next day, I was walking across the quad ready for my last duty for the day, in Rose's Slavic art class, when suddenly some young guardian came running up to me.

"Guardian Belikov!" he called. "Headmistress Kirova wants to see you in her office, right away."

_Oh no. _Had she found out about last night? I informed Alberta about taking extra trainings with Rose, she didn't argue. So maybe that was what I was being summoned for. But if Headmistress Kirova had found out. . . . This wasn't good.

I walked to her office alongside the young guardian. I remembered when he was a student at the school just after I was transferred. But I couldn't remember his name.

When I entered Kirova's office, she was nowhere to be found, so I waited. It was twenty minutes before she showed up.

"Oh," she said, a little startled when she walked in to find me standing and waiting patiently in the middle of the room. "Guardian Belikov, what can I do for you?"

"I was informed you wanted to see me, Headmistress Kirova," I told her. Typical.

"Oh, yes of course. It's about Rose," she said as she sat behind her crowded desk. I started to worry, a small bead of sweat dripping along my temple. "As you know, All Saints Day is approaching and Queen Tatiana is coming for the dinner." What did any of this have to do with Rose? "So, how as Rose been doing in these trainings of yours? Is her temper in control? Has she been working hard?"

Realization dawned on me. "Oh, yes, she's been much more controlled and we've even added on an extra two hours a day, because she's so eager to catch up and graduate."

Headmistress Kirova looked taken aback. "Oh, really? Well, then I guess she will be granted permission to go to the banquet dinner, but if she ruins this dinner, in front of the queen, her punishment will be _very_ severe."

I nodded and she excused me from her office.

That afternoon I arrived at the gym a few minutes early in some loose clothes.

When Rose walked in I caught her looking me up and down. I watched her as she mentally slapped herself. She was a strange one.

I moved her to face me on the mat and crossed my arms. "What's the first problem you'll run into when facing a Strigoi?"

"They're immortal?" Oh, Rose. Always going for the obvious answer.

"Think of something more basic."

She thought about it for a moment. "They could be bigger than me. And stronger." That was a very high likelihood. Rose was short, yet still taller than her mother. And the chance of a Strigoi being stronger than her was inevitable. I could never really show her that strength personally.

I nodded to her. "That makes it difficult, but not impossible. You can usually use a person's extra height and weight against them." And so it began.

I showed her several strategic maneuvers to help her gain an advantage over me. The height difference was something I could show her personally, and it worked.

"Go ahead," I said. "Try to hit me."

I knew she wouldn't need to be told twice, and I was right. Instantly she attacked. Well . . . she attempted to land a blow on me. Just like the first night we met, I blocked her attack swiftly and put her on the mat. Only, unlike that night in Portland, her technique was near perfect.

She went at me again. This time it was more like an 'epic fail'. Followed by several more.

When she finally gave up, she asked, "Okay, what am I doing wrong?"

"Nothing," I said to her smugly, but not letting it show.

She obviously didn't believe me. "If I wasn't doing anything wrong, I'd have rendered you unconscious by now."

I resisted the urge to laugh. "Unlikely. You're moves are all correct, but this is the first time you've really tried. I've done it for years."

I didn't understand why she shook her head and rolled her eyes at me like I was some grandpa. I was only twenty-four. _Twenty-four_, I reminded myself, seven years older than her. This sent my mood down a little. Huh?

"Whatever you say, Grandpa. Can we try it again?" I would have said yes, but then I remembered the banquet.

"We're out of time. Don't you want to get ready?"

She looked to the clock and instantly her mood rocketed a thousand times. She was suddenly very giddy and it made me smile at her, although she wasn't paying attention to me.

"Hell, yeah, I do."

I walked towards the door ahead of her, and suddenly heard, _"Attack!"_ from behind me. With a small smile I turned around at high speed and didn't even let her make contact. Like she weighed less than air, I pinned her down on the ground with a thud.

She groaned in my ear. I pulled back slightly to look her in the face. "I didn't do anything wrong!"

For what must have been the third time, I resisted the urge to laugh at her, and it was much harder this time. She really knew how to be funny. "The battle cry sort of gave you away. Try not to yel next time."

"Would it have really made a difference if I'd been quiet?"

It probably would have, just a bit, but as if she wouldn't cry out. "No. Probably not."

She sighed loudly.

I stayed on top of her for a minute longer. Her eyes bore into mine and I knew I should have gotten up, but I just couldn't make my body move. The silence between us wasn't eerie, it was peaceful. I seemed to find so much peace with Rose.

"So um . . . you got any other moves to show me?"

I almost smiled, and then, with a strange amount of effort, pulled back. I finally shifted off her and rose to my feet. "Come on, we should go."

We both exited the gym and just before we parted, I had to make sure.

"I can trust you tonight, can't I Rose?" She stared at me, confusion all over her fierce face. "I've been sticking my neck out for you for the last month. You're not going to ruin all that hard work tonight are you?"

Confusion turned to realization. "Oh." She seemed a little upset that I doubted her, but she quickly let her normal nature kick in. "Only if Tatiana doesn't start something."

I shook my head and walked away, only letting myself laugh after she was long out of hearing range.

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**Thanks for reviewing: _Baseballshoppingmomma, Cladooshkaa, amberrosalie, VampHeart9123, et1141412, twimomlovesdimitri, 3Zayna3, Mordanyes _and_ lukesxgirlfriend _for the lovely reviews! I love it so much, praise from you guys gives me a goal.**

**So I'll have the next chap up in a few days :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**So here's chapter 11, hope it's okay. Remember, I combined 10 and 11, I don't remember why, I think it was coz there is no Dimitri in Chapter 10 maybe :O**

**Anyway, hope it's okay. I think my writing's gona downhill a bit.**

**WIWR xx ;)**

**V.A not mine :(**

* * *

**-Chapter 11-**

I had to change quickly before leaving for the banquet; guardians were required to be at the commons early for when guests started arriving.

As I stood around, a little bored, and watched the students enter and take their seats, I saw Rose enter and felt a little jolt inside of me. It must have been a slight worry that she would do something stupid.

When the queen entered I felt grateful I wasn't required to kneel like an idiot. I zoned out and payed no attention to her until I heard something very interesting.

"Vasilisa Dragomir." It was the queen. She was talking directly to Lissa and I noticed that all eyes were on the two of them. "We heard you had returned. We are glad to have the Dragomirs back, even though only one remains. We deeply regret the loss of your parents and your brother; they were among the finest of the Moroi, their deaths a true tragedy." I didn't like where this was going. I had had dealings with the queen before, and she was never nice to anybody without good reason.

"You have an interesting name," Tatiana continued on. "Many heroines in Russian fairy tales are name Vasilisa. Vasilisa the Brave, Vasilisa the beautiful. They are different young women, all having the same name and the same excellent qualities: strength, intelligence, discipline, and virtue."

Now I really wasn't sure of Tatiana. She was complimenting Lissa now?

"All accomplish great things, triumphing over their adversaries.

"Likewise, the Dragomir name commands its own respect. Dragomir kings and queens have ruled wisely and justly in our history. They have used their powers for miraculous ends. They have slain Strigoi, fighting alongside their guardians. They are _royal_ for a reason." After a moment of letting her words sink in, Tatiana continued, "Yes, you are doubly named with power. Your names represent the finest qualities people have to offer and hearken back in time to deeds of greatness and valor." After an agonising pause, what I was fearing would happen, did. "But, as you have demonstrated, names do _not_ make a person. Nor do they have any bearing on how that person turns out."

And, like she'd reached out and slapped Lissa with her bare hand, she turned and walked away calmly.

My eyes stayed on Lissa, making sure she was okay, then they were on Rose, making sure she wasn't going to start anything. She looked like she wanted to, badly. I prepared myself, but Rose realized it was a lost cause and slouch back.

During the post-dinner reception, I lost sight of Lissa for a second and she was lost to me. I knew she couldn't go too far, so I let it go and resumed my duties.

A little while later, Headmistress Kirova snuck away from the crowd to speak to me. "Where is Rose?" I looked around to discover, that indeed, Rose was missing. I thought that if Lissa had left, than Rose must have followed her. "Go and find her and she can go back to her dorm now that the dinner is over."

I nodded and left to find Rose, knowing she would be with Lissa.

I was walking along looking for Rose when I heard some hostility over among the trees somewhere. I went straight to it and found none other than my destructive pupil almost starting a fight with some diminutive young non-royal Moroi. I recognised her, but where? It didn't matter, she wasn't my concern—Rose and Lissa were.

I moved over and crossed my arms. "Everything all right?" I asked more towards Rose, knowing she probably wasn't going to tell me the truth.

"Sure thing, Guardian Belikov," she said, smiling at me in a very untrusting way. "We were just swapping family stories. Ever heard Mia's? It's _fascinating_."

"Come on," the young girl—Mia I presumed—said to her little band of supporters. She led them off and I turned my full attention on Rose.

I told her I was supposed to take her back to her dorm. "You weren't just about to start a fight were you?"

"Of course not," she said, still staring at the empty space behind me. "I don't start fights where people can see them."

"Rose," Lissa groaned out.

"Let's go," I said, exhausted. I didn't want to deal with this anymore. "Good night, Princess."

It took a moment, but I finally convinced Rose to follow me after she was reassured—but not sure—that Lissa would be okay.

"We may need to add an extra session on self-control." I began to think of all the ways I could push her to the edge. That could be fun. . . . I would definitely have to keep that idea in mind.

"I have plenty of self contr—hey!"

She stopped walking again as she noticed Christian try to slip past us towards Lissa. I didn't expect to see him tonight, but if Rose was allowed to go. . . .

"You going to see Lissa?" Rose asked. It was like she could just shift her rage around to whoever got too close and it didn't even take any effort!

"What if I am?"

"Rose, this isn't the time," I tried to warn. Fail on that one.

"Why don't you just leave her alone?"

I silently wished Rose to shut up, but she kept going. Christian wasn't a bad kid. I knew Tasha well and I knew, despite much stereotyping, he wasn't at risk of turning Strigoi—much. As Rose went on I grew bored and the urge to sleep swept over me like a dust storm. I wanted to go to bed, which I couldn't do if Rose stood around yelling at Christian.

"Enough," I said, physically moving Rose away to her dorm.

"Thanks for 'helping' then," snapped Christian, letting the loathing show through.

"No problem," Rose called, still trying to keep it going.

I wanted to turn back and tell Christian to just leave it, but the triumphant look on Rose's face told me he already had.

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**Thanks a heap to reviewers: _my 2 guys, amberrosalie, dimitrifan88, LovinTheSun1996, baseballshoppingmomma, et1141412, Mordanyes, Cassie _and _moroi-skye._**

**CHALLENGE! Help me get to 100 reviews over the next two chapters and I will update 13 and 14 as a bit longer chapters and at the same time :)**

**Also, do you guys think I should go on to Frostbite?**


	12. Chapter 12

**Sorry it took so long to update guys, I wrote this chapter three times before I was remotely happy with it. And I'm still not sure about this one.**

**Anyway, thanks for the reviews: **_**dimitrifan88, Caza101, TheVampLuvr1, et1141412, eaglewings2peace, Mordanyes, xoxoluvs2dance97xoxo, looking-in-the-mirror, amberrosalie, cuddle machine, shinythings22, jeaniemaea**_

**And a HUGE shoutout to **_**Chantie15**_**, for giving me my 100th review, I thought I wasn't going to make it. And it was her review that inspired my writers block to disappear and allowed me to successfully write this chapter. So on that note, let's start our way to 200!**

_**Chantie15**_** has also been writing a DPOV, and I have read it and it is really good, go check it out!**

**WIWR xx ;)**

**VA **_**still **_**isn't mine :( but Richelle Mead is awesome. 42 days to Last Sacrifice! =D**

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**-Chapter 12-**

Once I finally fell asleep, my phone started to ring.

_Rose_, was the first thought that entered my mind. Jeez, she could be a pain sometimes.

"Hello?" I answered, not letting my annoyance at the call show through.

"Guardian Belikov," the dorm matron responded, "Miss Hathaway is here to see you. She says it's urgent, but she won't say anything to me."

"I'll be right down." I waited until the call ended to groan. And it was a huge groan.

I took my time getting dressed, sure that whatever Rose had to say wasn't that important. When I came downstairs however, one look from Rose told me what was wrong. "Lissa," I said. As soon as she nodded, I turned around and headed down the stairs. I instantly regretted taking so long to get to Rose. She followed me as we crossed the quad in the blaring afternoon sun.

Lissa's hall matron was shocked when we appeared, but she didn't dare question me. "She's in the bathroom," Rose said, her first words since she came to get me. When the matron and I tried to follow, Rose stopped us. "She too upset. Let me talk to her first."

I was cautious to let Rose in alone, but allowed it anyway, just for a moment.

"Liss?" I heard Rose call out before the door slammed shut behind her.

"I have to call Headmistress Kirova," the matron spoke beside me.

"No yet," I said sternly. "I said give them a minute, maybe everything is fine." I didn't even believe the words myself, but the matron seemed to.

I heard sobbing and muffled voices come from inside, and decided it had been long enough, something was clearly wrong. I knocked on the door twice. "Rose?" I said quietly.

"Just a sec," she called back.

I heard running water. "We're coming in," the matron called and she pushed me forward, I had no other choice but to enter and Lissa was pulling on Rose's sweatshirt.

Instantly I noticed the blood on her face. I raced over and checked all over her, looking for the source of the blood. "It's not mine," Lissa told me. "It . . . it's the rabbit. . . ."

I still checked for any marks on her to indicate otherwise, and then I asked her, "What rabbit?"

She shakily pointed to the trash can, clearly terrified. "I cleaned it up. So Natalie wouldn't see."

I walked over to check out the trash can, Rose followed suit and as her eyes came to rest on the contents, she pulled back. It was amazing anyone could tell it was a rabbit; the only thing I could recognize was the blood.

I moved back over to Lissa and brought myself down to her level. "Tell me what happened." I gave her some tissues and let her grow calm before she explained.

"I came back an hour ago. And it was there. Right there in the middle of the floor. Torn apart. It was like it had . . . exploded." She sniffed. "I didn't want Natalie to find it, didn't want to scare her . . . so I—I cleaned it up. Then I just couldn't . . . I couldn't go back. . . ." She started to cry and her whole body began to shake.

"No one should be able to get into those rooms!" cried the matron. "How is this happening?"

I ignored her rant. "Do you know who did it?" I asked gently, despite my want to scream and rage like the matron was, and like, I was sure, Rose wanted to.

Lissa handed me a bloody note.

_I know what you are. You won't survive being here. I'll make sure of it. Leave now. It's the only way you might live through this._

That tested my patience to the max. I was enraged that someone would threaten Lissa like this. It enraged me more that it was my charge, and she was only a student.

The matron stormed out of the room. "I'm getting Ellen," she exclaimed as she left.

"Tell her we'll be at the clinic," I said. Once she had left, I turned to Lissa. "You should lie down."

She didn't move, whether she refused to, or just plain couldn't, it didn't matter once Rose linked their arms and encouraged her.

Slowly, we made our way to the medical clinic. Normally staffed by a couple of doctors during the day, the one nurse on to night offered to wake one of them, but I refused her offer: Lissa only needed rest.

It seemed that Kirova had timed her entry for the moment Lissa was down and comfortable. As soon as the questions started, so did Rose. "Leave her alone!" she said as she thrust herself between Kirova and Lissa. "Can't you see she doesn't want to talk about it? Let her get some sleep first!"

Kirova hated being told what to do. "Miss Hathaway, you're out of line as usual. I don't even know what you're doing here."

"Headmistress, could I have a word outside, please?" After some consideration, she agreed.

"What?" whispered Kirova harshly once we were outside.

I looked at the door, then back to Kirova. "Let Rose stay with Lissa tonight."

"What? Are you insane? What if they run away again? What if this is what they're hoping to achieve?"

"You really think it was Rose that did this?" I asked calmly.

"Of course I do! What other explanation is there? She is clearly doing it to get kicked out so her and the princess can runaway again," she said.

"That's a bit of a reach," I said. "Look at how distraught Vasilisa is? No one can fake that."

"So Rose planned it herself!"

"And put her best friend through all of this? You're reaching now Headmistress," I said firmly.

She stared at me for a minute, not even attempting to hide her fury when she spoke. "Okay." We walked back into the room. "You may stay with her for a little while. We'll have janitors do further cleaning and investigation in the bathroom and your room, Miss Dragomir, and then discuss the situation in detail in the morning."

"Don't wake Natalie," whispered Lissa. "I don't want to scare her. I cleaned up everything in the room anyway."

Kirova clearly didn't want to let it go like that, but she retreated anyway.

I stayed outside the door, listening to Rose and Lissa. It was wrong of me, but if they said anything that gave me some clue as to what was going on, I had to.

"I won't let them find out," said Rose. "But I wish you'd told me before I left the reception. You said you'd always come to me first."

"I wasn't going to do it then," Lissa told Rose. What was she talking about? Do what? "I swear, I wasn't going to. I mean, I was upset . . . but I thought . . . I thought I could handle it. I was trying so hard . . . really Rose. I was. But then I got back to my room, and I saw _it_, and I . . . just lost it. It was like the last straw, you know? And I knew I had to clean it up. Had to clean it up before they saw, before they found out, but there was so much blood . . . and afterward, after it was done, it was too much, and I felt like I was going to . . . I don't know . . . explode, and it was just too much, I had to let it out, you know? I had to—"

Rose cut off the hysterical ramblings. "It's okay, I understand."

I left the clinic. This was a close moment that I was intruding on, and I felt ashamed that I had. I went back to my room and got little sleep. All I could think about was how much I wanted to hurt whoever had done this to Lissa. I was going to make them realize the consequences of messing with _my_ charge.

The next day I pretty much shut myself off. I got through practice with Rose without letting her on, but after that, I was in my own mind for the entire day, trying to work out who could have done this to Lissa.

A lot of the royal Moroi would want to torture Lissa for a number of reasons, the main one being she had ditched their clique to hang out with Rose and Natalie. But none of them had the guts to _kill_, even woodland creatures.

No novices I could think of would want to hurt Lissa, she fit in better with them than she would the cruel, gossiping lives of the royals.

When I showed up for practice with Rose, she looked . . . distraught, if I was guessing right. I decided not to ask her, assuming the students must have found out about the rabbit, which I couldn't help. It was none of my business if it didn't put Lissa in any danger: I was more concerned with finding out who did it, not who knew.

"Guardian Belikov!" someone called out to me as I crossed the quad, ready for a good, long sleep. I turned to the voice to discover it was Lissa.

"Princess," I addressed her.

"Urgh, please, call me Lissa," she said, hating my formalities.

"Then call me Dimitri," I told her with a smirk.

Once the light air cleared, Lissa turned serious—like sixty to zero in one second flat. "I need your help," she said, ordering it on me.

"Of course, anything," I obeyed.

"I need to see Rose, _right now_."

I hesitated, pulling a face. "I . . . can't. Anything but that."

"Please," she begged. "She needs my help."

My face turned to confusion. "Why?" What was going on with Rose? Did this have anything to do with the way she looked earlier?

It was Lissa's turn to hesitate. "You haven't heard," she stated. "Jesse Zeklos didn't keep his mouth shut. They spread rumors saying that Rose slept with both of them and let them drink her blood. Now everyone knows she fed me while we were gone."

"_Them?_"

"Jesse and his friend Ralf, Ralf Sarcozy." She didn't want to tell me who, but I was glad she did. That way I could—no, I couldn't. If I touched them, I'd be gone, and Lissa and Rose would have no one to help them like I could.

I sighed. "You get five minutes."

I took her to a back entrance at Rose's dorm and told her to wait there for me. I walked up and knocked on Rose's door. When she opened it she seemed surprised to see me. I could see she had been crying, something I had never seen. It was a look that didn't particularly suit her. My anger spiked but I chose to ignore it.

"Are you okay?" I asked. My anger disappeared as my concerned seeped through. I was . . . worried?

"It doesn't matter if I am, remember?" She looked at me again. "Is Lissa okay? This'll be hard on her."

Always so concerned for Lissa. It upset me that she couldn't let her feelings take priority, just this once. She deserved it. She deserved this one day to not care about how any was feeling but her. I took her outside to Lissa. "Five minutes," I warned again.

I waited inside, not wanting to eavesdrop on their conversation for a second time in a day. As I waited, five minutes passed; then six, and seven. I wanted to give them all night, so maybe when Rose came back in, she would be smiling. But by eight minutes, I had to bring her in.

I stuck my head outside. "You've got to get back inside, Rose, before someone finds you."

Rose shot Lissa a look I couldn't see as they walked away. "I'll take care of everything this time, Rose. _Everything_."

I decided I didn't want to know.


	13. Chapter 13

**I'm sorry it took me so long to update guys. If you go to an Australian high school, you'll know that the government BLOCKED fanfiction! So I can only post when I'm on my home computer. *mutters 'stupid government'***

**Anyway, hope this chapter was worth the wait, and I haven't proof read it yet (bad considering I'm a beta reader) so if there are any mistakes, let me know.**

**WWIR xx ;)**

**VA is not (and I'm beginning to think, never will be) mine. But enjoy!**

* * *

**-Chapter 13-**

Once I opened my mind and thoughts to the outside world, I realized how bad the rumors about Rose were. I could only imagine how hard this must have been on her. A lot of my rage over the person threatening Lissa shifted to the students whispering about Rose.

I was standing in a Moroi class one morning and watched as Lissa spoke to a young Conta girl across the room when I realized a boy and girl I was standing near weren't doing their work either.

"It's so _gross_," the slim girl whispered.

"I know," the boy replied.

"And she just _let them_ drink from her?" The boy nodded. "_Gross!_"

"Kirova should have kicked her out," the boy said. "Better that then she bring her filthy habits in to the school. Next thing you know _every_ dhampir will be doing it."

I wanted to lift the both of them by the fronts of their shirts and throw them around a bit, and then take them to apologize to Rose. _No_, I reminded myself, _why are you thinking like this?_ I had my answer before I finished thinking the question, _Rose is rubbing off on me._

The next morning, I felt myself lift up a bit when Rose and I met for practice. We ran like normal and I tried to be a little more comforting with my encouragement, I didn't want to cause her any more pain by being too rough. When I showed her some techniques on attacking with any makeshift weapon she could find, I had to work very hard to stop myself from laughing every time she hit me and _she_ staggered backwards, while I stayed grounded.

When her attacks got really rough, and she started to look like she was taking it all to heart, I called a break. We packed up in silence and I watched her as she packed away the equipment, then I got a good look at her hands.

"Your hands." I swore. In Russian of course. Rose knew it was a swear word, in English or not, there's no mistaking a swear word. But before she could hassle me about what it meant, I continued, "Where are your gloves?"

She looked at her hands. They were swollen and blistered and I could see a little blood. "Don't have any," she answered. "Never needed them in Portland."

I swore again, was she completely stupid? I pulled her over to a chair and grabbed a first-aid kit. As I wiped away the blood I said, "We'll get you some."

She observed as I cleaned her poor hands. "This is only the start isn't it?"

It was the most cryptic thing she had ever said to me. "Of what?"

"Me. Turning into Alberta. Her . . . and all the other female guardians. They're all leathery and stuff. Fighting and training and always being outdoors—they aren't pretty anymore." She took a moment and I tried to stay concentrated on her bleeding hands. "This . . . this life. It destroys them. Their looks, I mean."

I wasn't sure how to answer. I looked up from what I was doing and surveyed her deep brown eyes. Did she really think she wasn't going to pretty just because she was going to be a guardian? Maybe that was true, but right now she was perfectly pretty, and she should embrace it while she was, instead of dreading the days when she wouldn't be. "It won't happen to _you_. You're too . . ." I wanted to comfort her, to make her feel better about her future, but I didn't know how to finish that sentence. "It won't happen to you."

"It happened to my mom," she argued with me. Didn't she know how to take a compliment? Unless she was looking to get more. "She used to be beautiful. I guess she still is, sort of. But not the way she used to be." She bitterly added, "Haven't seen her in a while. She could look completely different for all I know."

I picked up on her reasons straight away. "You don't like your mother," I stated.

"You noticed that, huh?" It wasn't hard to guess.

"You barely know her."

"That's the point. She abandoned me. She left me to be raised by the Academy." I could only imagine how much it must hurt her, thinking her mother didn't want her. I always had a family to come home to during breaks, a family to look out for me.

"You say that . . . but what else could she have done? I know you want to be a guardian. I know how much it means to you. Do you think she feels any differently? Do you think she should have quit to raise you when you'd spend most of your life here anyway?"

I knew how much she hated having reasonable arguments thrown at her, and that's why I got so much joy out of her reaction. "Are you saying I'm a hypocrite?" she tried to say it calmly.

"I'm just saying maybe you shouldn't be so hard on her. She's a very respected dhampir woman. She's set you on the path to be the same."

"It wouldn't kill her to visit more," Rose muttered under her breath. I pretended not to hear her. Again, I could only imagine how much harder it would be not have a mother to want to be with her, to hold her when she cried and yell at her when she did something wrong. "But I guess you're right. A little. It could have been worse, I suppose. I could have been raised by blood whores."

I looked up. It was time to teach her the truth about most dhampirs that didn't become guardians. "I was raised in a dhampir commune. They aren't as bad as you think."

"Oh," she said, obviously feeling guilty. Just what I wanted. "I didn't mean—"

"It's all right." I wasn't mad at her accusations and assumptions—I was pretty used to it. I just wanted her to realize it's not that bad. I went back to focusing on her hands.

"So did you, like, have family there? Grow up with them?"

I nodded. "My mother and two sisters. I didn't see them much after I went to school, but we still keep in touch. Mostly, the communes are about family. There's a lot of love there, no matter what stories you've heard." It was my turn to feel guilty. I felt terrible telling Rose about my childhood with my family who loved and cared for me, after she was just complaining about her non-existent mother.

"Yeah, but . . . isn't it weird? Aren't there a lot of Moroi men visiting to, you know? . . ."

I started rubbing circles into her hands with the salve. "Sometimes." It wasn't something I liked to talk about.

"I—I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up something bad. . . ."

"Actually . . . you probably wouldn't think it's bad," I said after almost a minute. I could feel a tight smile forming on my lips. "You don't know your father, do you?"

"No. All I know is he must have had wicked cool hair."

I looked up and watched her hair fall around her face. "Yes. He must have," I said absent-mindedly. I returned to the topic, choosing what I said carefully. "I knew mine."

Rose seemed to freeze. "Really? Most Moroi guys don't stay—I mean, some do, but you know, usually they just—" She was babbling, so I cut across.

"Well, he liked my mother. And he visited her a lot. He's my sisters' father too. But when he came . . . well, he didn't treat my mother very well. He did some horrible things."

"Like . . ." She was hesitating. She didn't want to say the wrong thing. "Blood-whore things?"

"Like beating-her-up kinds of things," I said flatly. I never talked about it with anyone, I didn't believe it was okay to talk about it with anyone. But talking about it with Rose . . . it felt okay.

I put some bandages on her hands, and then she spoke. "Oh God," I said. Her hands tightened, and instinctively, so did mine. "That's horrible. And she . . . she just let it happen?"

"She did," I said. A sad smile pulled at the corner of my mouth. "But I didn't."

"Tell me, _tell me_ you beat the crap out of him."

My smile grew at her excitement. "I did."

"Wow. You beat up your dad. I mean, that's really horrible . . . what happened. But, _wow_. You really are a god."

I blinked at her. "What?"

"Uh, nothing." She returned to the subject. "How old were you?"

I was still so confused about her previous comment, but answered her question. "Thirteen."

Rose was flabbergasted. "You beat up your dad when you were _thirteen_?"

"It wasn't that hard," I said casually, although the memory was wiping away some of my earlier anguish. "I was stronger than he was, almost as tall. I couldn't let him keep doing that. He had to learn that being royal and Moroi doesn't mean you can do anything you want to other people—even blood whores." I wasn't directly referring to my mother with that comment, but Rose seemed to think I had been.

"I'm sorry."

"It's all right."

I could see the gears working in her head. "That's why you got so upset about Jesse, isn't it? He was another royal, trying take advantage of a dhampir girl." Not just any dhampir girl.

I averted my gaze. "I got upset over that for a lot of reasons." Realizing the implications of what I'd just said, I casually recovered. "After all, you were breaking the rules, and . . ." I looked back at her without finishing. Rose was very appealing to me, and I hated seeing my student, my wonderful student, being treated like that.

Rose's entire mood darkened. "I know you heard what people are saying, that I—"

"I know it's not true," I interrupted. I didn't want to hear her even imply that any of _that_ happened.

She was clearly surprised that I was so sure. "Yeah, but how do you—"

Again, I had to interrupt her. "Because I know you," I said firmly. "I know your character. I know you're going to be a great guardian."

She seemed to lift a bit when I told her. "I'm glad someone does. Everyone else thinks I'm totally irresponsible." I didn't want to tell her that I did once, and sometimes, when she was acting particularly childish, I still thought that.

But . . . "With the way you worry more about Lissa than yourself . . ." I shook my head. "No. You understand your responsibilities better than guardians twice your age. You'll do what you have to do to succeed."

"I don't know if I can do everything," she said after some thought.

I raised my eyebrow at her, and saw that common glint of jealousy she tried to hide when I did it.

"I don't want to cut my hair." The comment turned the conversation from so serious to so light so suddenly that I had to hold back a huge laughing fit.

"You don't have to cut your hair," I said, puzzled. "It's not required."

"All the other guardian women do. They show off their tattoos."

I let go of her hands—which I was strangely still massaging with the salve—and leaned forward, reaching out to hold a lock of her long hair. I twisted it in my finger, relishing the smooth feel of it. Shocked at how the touch of her felt, I pulled away.

"Don't cut it," I informed her. I could only imagine how much it would hurt me to see her lose those locks.

"But no one'll see my tattoos if I don't."

I pulled away from her and made my way out of the room, trying to hide the smile playing at my lips. "Wear it up."

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**Thanks for the reviews: _disha, Mordanyes, dimitrifan88, ELFINA01, et1141412, Courtney Ann, Zoya Shaf, Jayfeather is Awesome, amberrosalie, kew180, crystal49s, Bleedingink17_.**

**Keep it up! You always make me smile :D**


	14. Chapter 14

**So I'm getting really excited about the release of Last Sacrifice in NINE DAYS!**

**That's why I'm going to work my butt off to get the last ten chapters posted. That means at least one update per day, with the final chapter (and maybe, if you guys are really nice to me, the first chapter of Frostbite) going up the day Last Sacrifice is released. (American readers, that will be the 6****th****, not the 7****th****, I'm in Australia.)**

**Anyway, hope this chapter's good, because there was NO Dimitri in chapter 14 of the book, I wrote this little piece because a lot of you like chapter 8 (the one with Dimitri and Lissa after the fox thing).**

**WIWR xx ;)**

**Disclaimer: blah, blah, blah. 14 chapters later, I think you get it ;)**

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**-Chapter 14-**

I was wandering around one of the campus' gardens one Friday afternoon when I found Lissa by herself on a bench.

"Princess," I said with a slight bow.

"Oh," she said, surprised I'd found her, "hi, Guardian Belikov. How many times do I have to remind you? It's Lissa. I know it's respectful, and formal, but it's stupid."

"Then stop calling me Guardian Belikov," I said, sitting beside her. "We're going to be spending a lot of time together once you graduate, so if you want to be informal, start now." She gave me a weak smile. "Are you okay?" I could tell she was on the verge of tears, if she hadn't already been crying.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine."

"Liar."

"I am, really. I mean, I feel fine. I feel like there's no reason I should be sad, but I just am." After a moment, she told me the truth. "I'm worried about Rose."

I laughed a little bit as I pushed some of her golden hair out of her eyes. "Why would you be worried about Rose? It's her job to worry about you."

"That's the problem. She's worried all the time about me, and then I worry about her. I don't like the person she's turning into. She's not the same Rose."

I frowned slightly at her slightly selfish comment. "Well, you know that Rose is turning into a good guardian—a great one. It's part of growing up. If she doesn't change who she is, she'll never make it, she won't be able to protect you." I sighed. "She can't be the same girl she was."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right."

"Now, why don't you tell me what else is bothering you." I could see through her easily now that her guard was down.

"I'm just not happy anymore. All the coasting through the middle stuff Rose wanted was so much easier. But now it's back to how it was, I can't go back. Mia would win, and Rose would go back to being known as a blood whore."

"You're not just doing this for Rose, are you?"

She sighed and shook her head. "Andre was everything at this school. He made his connections and his status as a royal before he finished sophomore year. And now that he's gone, and my parents are gone . . ."

"You feel you have to live up to that?" She nodded. "You make yourself as a royal by earning respect among the people who have been royals for years. The people you make friends with now will never truly be your friends until you earn that respect, and your place on the royal council. Don't worry so much about that now."

She rested her head on my shoulder.

"Now those little problems are out of the way. What aren't you telling me, Vasilisa?" I was beginning to feel more like a guidance councilor than a guardian, but I was sure this wouldn't be the first time Lissa came to me with a problem over the years.

"I'm scared," she answered. "People are doing horrible things to me. Will it stop at these poor animals, or will it keep going until someone gets hurts. All just to get me to—" She caught her words just in time. There _was_ something she wasn't telling me.

"Lissa," I encouraged. "If you know why someone's doing this, you have to tell me. It could really help figure out who it is."

"No, I don't know why someone is doing this to me, Dimitri!" She stood up and looked down on me, clearly not happy. "I don't know why anyone would be murdering these animals, and then leaving them for me to find, like presents! I'm terrified of how far this is going to go. What if it really doesn't stop at the animals? What if this sick person comes after me next? What if they try to hurt you? Or they try to hurt Rose? It would be my entire fault. You and Rose could be killed and it would be all my fault."

She started crying halfway through her ramblings and as she stood there shaking, I got to my feet and before I could speak, she launched herself into me, like she needed something strong to hold on to. After a few minutes, she pulled back.

I put my hands on her arms and leant down to look her in the eye. "Lissa, listen to me," I said. "This is what Rose and I have worked our entire lives for. To protect Moroi, to protect you. No one forced us into this life, if we didn't want it, we would walk away. Rose is ready to defend you, and I'm sorry, but the chances of losing her eventually are just something you will eventually have to come to terms with. I am sorry, but it's part of our life. We do it because we have to, but also because we love you and we don't want any harm to come to you.

"But I want you to know, as long as you and Rose are still in school, and Rose is still my student and friend, I will protect both of you. I won't let anything happen to you, and I won't let anything happen to her. Ever."

"You promise?"

"Yes. As long as I breathe, both of you will be safe."

She hugged me again, and this time I hugged her back, reassuring her that I'd keep my word.

"You and Rose, and me, aye? One, not so big, happy family." She smiled and I was glad her mood was lightening. I did feel uneasy, and a little jolt in my stomach, at the way she grouped me and Rose together like that.

"Yeah, I guess so."

I walked Lissa to her dorm, her comment about us becoming a family constantly in the back of my mind.

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**No reviewers because this update has chapters 13, 14, 15, and maybe 16 if I get it finished :D**


	15. Chapter 15

**I know I said I was gonna have this story finished by the LS release... and I will! Truuuuuuuust mee :P**

**This is a shorter chapter but I hope you like it**

**Thank you for the reviews: _Mordanyes, et1141412, k8ella, Cladushaa, KayleenNight, dimitrifan88, amberrosalie_**

**Dont think I haven't noticed that so many of my reviewers have been with me since I first started writing this fic, so thanks heaps for stciking with me :)**

**WIWR xx ;)**

**P.S. Vampir Academy and it's characters are not mine**

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After my talk with Lissa, I couldn't help but start to worry as Lissa did that maybe these attacks were to frighten her, and then eventually when she showed no signs of fear, this sick person might come after her.

And Rose. Rose was only seventeen—she wasn't ready to fight anyone. This person could be anyone in the school, teacher or student. If she couldn't defend herself against _me_, how could I expect her to fight off anyone trying to get at Lissa? If this person was crazy enough, Rose could be in as much danger as Lissa. And that terrified me.

Lissa being in so much danger made me think of Ivan for the first time in weeks.

"Come on, Dimitri," he said to me the day we got our assignments. Naturally, I got Ivan. "We're free now. We can wherever and do whatever we want. Now that I have the world's greatest guardian to protect me." I smiled at his belief in himself that he was telling the truth. "Let's go to dinner. Tonight. You and Zoya, and me and Alice." Zoya was Ivan's guardian assigned to him by his father. She was older than both of us, but only by a year or two. She was tall for a dhampir and very attractive. I found her very attractive. And the way he grouped me and Zoya, like he did him and Alice, made my stomach lurch.

During dinner Ivan and Alice were being very close as Zoya and I sat opposite them, feeling slightly uncomfortable as or eyes darted around the area, scanning and scoping. Alice's guardians were outside. After the night was over, Ivan and Alice decided to start making out by the car as Zoya, Alice's guardians and myself waited patiently. Zoya and I on one side of the parking lot alone made me slightly more uncomfortable. She walked around so she was standing in front of me.

"We've know each other for a while Dimitri," she said, teasing me with the tone of her voice. "Just give in already. I really like you, and I can tell you really like me." She was drawing ever closer with her lips. When she was just a few millimeters from my face, I closed the gap.

As I drew back, I noticed something on the other side of the parking lot. "Strigoi," I whispered to Zoya. She went stiff and then casually turned around, walking back to Ivan and Alice—with me in tow—like I said nothing. I knew what she was thinking, and I was hopeful it would work.

We were feet from the others when Alice's guardian's disappeared—and two Strigoi launched out at Ivan and Alice. They were both terrified. In all honesty, _I_ was terrified. I hadn't ever faced a live Strigoi before, despite all my years of training, I didn't feel ready enough. I'd only ever seen a Strigoi once before in my life, and it wasn't something I was willing to reminisce right at that point in time.

Zoya and I were immediately between the attackers and their prey. One went straight for Zoya, and instantly, I was in front of her, protecting her. And it was the biggest mistake I had ever made. The first one I killed easily, but not letting Zoya take care of it like she easily could have, allowed the other one to get around me. He lunged at Ivan, going right for his neck. Zoya got around and yanked him back just in time—she staked him easily and we all got into the car and sped off.

I called the alchemists from the road, and as soon as I hung up, Alice wasn't happy.

"I can't believe you let that Strigoi past!" she yelled at me. "Were you trying to get us killed?" On and on it went. Nothing Ivan or Zoya said could get her to stop, and it was only when she threatened to have me removed as Ivan's guardian that I lost my temper.

"You're safe," I growled, turning around to face her. "Your precious life is still intact. And I can assure you, it will never happen again." That shut her up.

Zoya was called back to protect Ivan's sister a few years later. I protected Ivan for seven years without any problems, six Strigoi kills was a lot, but Ivan had remained _alive_ at least. But all that experience wasn't enough on the night he needed me the most—when I wasn't there.

-Chapter 15-


	16. Chapter 16

**Another short one, but I still hope you like it, two more straight after this :)**

**Obviously no reviews lol**

**WIWR xx ;)**

**VA still isn't mine.**

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**-Chapter 16-**

"Let me get this straight, Guardian Belikov," Kirova said to me in her office, "what you're telling me is that you've made _no_ progress whatsoever in figuring who has been pulling these"—she choked up a bit as she remembered the blood—"horrible jokes on Princess Vasilisa?"

I took a breath, ready for another wrath. "No, Headmistress Kirova."

And there it was the glint in her eye that instantly told me to stop listening. I had suffered some horrible wraths from a few royals when Ivan died, telling me it was my fault he was gone—sometimes I let it get to me, and I didn't sleep properly for months, until I met Rose and Vasilisa—but Kirova's lectures took the prize. Six Strigoi later and I were still terrified whenever I saw that look on her face. So I quickly trained myself to stop listening.

When it felt like it was dying down a bit, I decided to listen, in case she directly asked me anything.

"You're one of this school's top guardians, Belikov. I was thinking about making you captain until this assignment to Lissa came along. The fact you can't figure out which one of these students is doing these things, well I'm . . ." she looked for the right word, and all I could think was, _don't say it_, because the one word you should never tell someone, especially someone like a student, or guardian, is, ". . . disappointed in you."

I suppressed the world's biggest groan.

The door opened and Kirova and I both turned to look at the rude—or, in my case, _very_ welcome—interruption. It was Rose, holding onto a very distraught looking Lissa. Suddenly I wished there'd been no interuption.

"Another attack?" I asked, and when Rose nodded, the questions went flying: _what happened? Where was it? Where were you? Who was around? Where had your bag been today?_

Once Lissa had answered each one, rather calmly, I took her and Rose back to Lissa's dorm and let Kirova call on some guardians to examine the scene and ask questions to other students.

"Why are people doing this to me?" whispered Lissa, to Rose as we walked.

"I don't know," answered a very pissed off Rose. I knew it was the last straw, for both of us. I was going to keep a constant watch on Lissa. This couldn't be allowed to happen again.

I was a good guardian—a great one. Now I had to prove it.


	17. Chapter 17

**Another chapter, a longer one too :)**

**Hope it's good**

**WIWR xx ;)**

**VA is Richelle Mead's**

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**-Chapter 17-**

I'd known Rose only weeks, and she'd had such an effect on me. I stood in Kirova's office again, this time I was doing all the talking. It was Lissa's fault though—she was the one who had practically begged me to talk to Headmistress Kirova.

"I think it's time Rose did a few more practical exercises, to help her be more ready for the field experience next spring," I lied. It wasn't easy. Headmistress Kirova frightened me more than words could say. _Only for Rose_, I chastised myself. "I've been thinking about it a lot since Lissa asked me about the shopping trip, and I think it will be good for the both of them. There'll be plenty of other guardians around in case we run into any _real_ trouble."

"Guardian Belikov," Kirova interrupted, "you already have me convinced." I was stunned. "Rose has been on excellent behavior since returning. A few mishaps were bound to happen"—I hoped she was referring to the almost fight in Mr. Nagy's class and not the incident with Zeklos—"but overall she's been quite well behaved. She may accompany you on the trip, provided this actually is a training exercise."

I nodded and she excused me to deal with some young Moroi who had been vandalizing Mr. Nagy's classroom.

When the trip came around, Rose seemed surprised—ant at the same time, not all _that_ shocked—that her release came with a few . . . she called them strings, I preferred conditions.

"Headmistress Kirova thinks you've done well since coming back," I said as we walked together to meet up with Victor Dashkov. I wasn't pleased to find out he was the one arranging the trip, but it gave me a chance to watch him more—to find out if he was trustworthy. I always felt so much more on edge when he was around, though.

Naturally, Rose couldn't just take the compliment. "Aside from starting a fight in Mr. Nagy's class?"

"She doesn't blame you for that." It was a bit of a lie, and I hated lying to Rose when she put so much faith and trust in me. Plus, I didn't want her to think that suddenly it was _okay _to start fights. "Not entirely. I convinced her you needed a break"—here was the hard part, telling Rose the conditions—"and that you could use this as a training exercise."

"Training exercise?" she asked. _Don't back down, you're the teacher._

I explained briefly to her as we reached the car where Victor, Ben and Spiridon were waiting.

Natalie crashed into the Prince and hugged him. He had been at the school so much when Lissa and Rose had gone missing, poor Natalie wasn't used to not having him come and visit every other week. The hug ending when Victor went into a coughing fit. Ben and Spiridon stiffened and watched him, but didn't move—this was obviously a regular occurrence.

Victor was just so sick. Why put himself through so much just to go shopping with some teenage girls? I brushed it off, resolving it must be to spend more time with Natalie.

Our group of nine rode out the two-hour trip just after sunrise in a school van. I was thankful when Stan Alto put his hand up to drive—he and I were the only ones qualified to drive it. I had specifically asked Stan to join us to test Rose. I hadn't forgotten Rose's first day back. What I didn't think about beforehand was that now I had to watch the both of them, so they didn't start at each other.

I decided to use the two hours as a bit of a lesson in less-important, miscellaneous guardian things that weren't taught in the classroom. "Natalie and Camille don't have personal guardians yet," I explained while the others chatted away. Spiridon, Rose and I sat in the back, while Ben rode shotgun next to Stan. Victor sat in the middle with the other girls. Lissa and he were having what seemed to be interesting conversation. Camille politely nodded and laughed like any royal, and poor Natalie was just trying to pry his attention from Lissa. That man seemed more interested in my charge than he did his own daughter.

"They're both under the protection of their families' guardians. Since they are Academy student leaving campus, a school guardian accompanies them—Stan. I go because I'm Lissa's assigned guardian. Most girls her age wouldn't have a personal guardian yet, but circumstances make her unusual.

"She's supposed to have two guardians. Princes and princesses always do," I continued.

Spiridon became interested in my talk with Rose and soon joined in. "Don't worry, she'll have plenty when the time comes. Dimitri's already one of them. Odds are you'll be one too. And that's why you're here today."

"The training part," Rose said solemnly.

"Yup," explained Spiridon. "You're going to be Dimitri's partner."

For reasons I couldn't explain, a strange air settle over me, the word _partner_ had brought it on. My eyes met Rose and some small understanding came to me. I ignored it—I didn't need any more worry about Rose today.

"Guarding partner," I needlessly, and stupidly, pointed out.

"Yup," Spiridon said again.

Unconscious of the moment, Spiridon thankfully took over with the important stuff, telling Rose about near and far guarding—all very self explanatory. One guardian stood with the charge, the other keeping a distance. It was the most common method when guarding royalty, because they almost always had two guards.

"You'll probably always be a near guard," I added when Spiridon's lesson made me feel left out and like a bad teacher. "You're a female and the same age as the princess. You can stay close to her without attracting attention."

"And I can't ever take my eyes off her," pointed Rose. "Or you." I beamed at her, but Spiridon laughed and caught her attention again and she missed it.

Spiridon elbowed me. "You've got a star student there. Did you give her a stake?"

"No. She's not ready."

"I would be if someone would show me how to use one," Rose disputed. She knew every guardian in the van had their own stake and a gun on them. But I was inflexible when it came to my decision of Rose wielding a stake. I meant it when I said she wasn't ready.

"More to it than just using the stake," I said. "You've still got to subdue them. And you've got to bring yourself to kill them."

"Why wouldn't I kill them?" Rose questioned. I apprehended that I hadn't taught Rose one of the hardest lessons as a guardian, I felt ashamed of myself for never mentioning it—but I felt remorse for Rose that she had to accept a very real reality so early in life.

"Most Strigoi used to be Moroi who purposely turned. Sometimes they're Moroi or dhampirs turned by force. It doesn't matter. There's a strong chance you might know one of them. Could you kill someone you used to know?"

She chose the answer I thought she would—Lissa—and it was the right answer, but there was so much more to it than that. "You might still hesitate," I told her. "And that hesitation could kill you. And her."

"So how do make sure you don't hesitate?"

"You have to keep telling yourself that they _aren't_ the person you knew. They've become something dark and twisted. Something unnatural. You have to let go of attachment and do what's right. If they have any grain of their former selves left, they'll probably be grateful."

"Grateful for me killing them?" It was so hard for her to understand at her age. I understood that, so I was patient with her.

"If someone turned you into a Strigoi, what would you want?" I posed to her.

She was lost for words, having no answer. I kept holding her gaze as I pushed further.

"What would you want if you knew you were going to be converted into a Strigoi against your will? If you knew you would lose all sense of your old morals and understanding of what's right and wrong? If you knew you'd live the rest of your life—your immortal life—killing innocent people? What would you want?"

Rose should have understood this better than most, I knew she would, and the realization flashed across her eyes after some thought. I felt a connection to her because she understood her duty better than any novice I'd ever met. She never seen death like I had, but she had a sense of what it felt like. I was proud of her. Maybe taking Lissa away was a good thing—it helped her see the world.

And making this decision was a part of the never easy life she would have.

"If I became Strigoi . . . I'd want someone to kill me."

"So would I," I said softly.

"Reminds me Mikhail hunting Sonya," muttered Victor in front of us.

"Who are Mikhail and Sonya?" asked Lissa. I didn't realize she didn't know what had really happened to Sonya Karp. I didn't want her to now, not today and not after what had been happening to her. But it was too late.

"Why, I thought you knew. Sonya Karp." Victor didn't hide his surprise at her lack of knowledge.

"Sonya Kar . . . you mean Ms. Karp? What about her?" Lissa glanced back and forth between her best friend and her uncle.

"She . . . became Strigoi," Rose finally said, not meeting Lissa's gaze. "By choice."

I heavy silence fell over the van again. "But I don't know who Mikhail is," Rose spoke up.

"Mikhail Tanner," Spiridon said.

"Oh." Rose remembered. "Guardian Tanner. He was here before we left." Rose frowned. "Why is he chasing Ms. Karp?"

"To kill her," I answered flatly. "They were lovers." It was a tragedy what had happened with them. In one way, what Mikhail was doing was incredibly romantic, but at the same time, it was ridiculously stupid. Giving up his career, everything he'd worked his whole life toward, to hunt down the lover he never found? Reckless and irresponsible. For all anyone knew, she was killed a long time ago, like she was just another Strigoi.

If, say, Rose ever did anything so stupid for me, I'd kill her for it. It was exactly the kind of reckless and irresponsible thing she'd do—even though she'd only just comprehended crossing paths with a Strigoi she used to know and having to kill them. But if it was me—or Lissa, or anyone she cared enough about—she'd do it without hesitating.

I hadn't thought about someone killing me before. I knew it was what I wanted if I was ever turned, but only now did I realize the extent of it. Would I want it to be any random guardian? Or would I want someone I knew and loved to do it?

"Perhaps it's time to talk about something else," said Victor, like he was satisfied he'd outed Ms. Karp's tragic end to all the girls in the van. "Today isn't a day to dwell on depressing topics."


	18. Chapter 18

**Here you are, chapter 18. Now tomorrow, while I'm reading LS, every few chapters I read, I'll update, because most of them are pretty much finshed. But I swear there will be NO spoilers in my author's notes or anywhere. And that means NONE in reviews either!**

**Anway, hope my updates were good :)**

**WIWR xx ;)**

**VA is not mine, but LS will be mine tomorrow! I will have it in my hands in 13 hours :)**

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**-Chapter 18-**

I think everyone was glad to make it to the mall at last for a number of reasons.

"Why don't I get a cool communicator?" Rose asked as I put mine in my ear before we got out.

I didn't want to admit I hadn't thought to bring her one and made a better excuse, "You'll learn better without one." It was true enough. "If you can protect her the old-fashioned way, you can handle anything."

Rose eased into her bodyguard role easily, staying by Lissa's side and constantly making eye contact with either myself, or Spiridon—we were the far guards today, so Spiridon could better help me keep an eye on Rose.

It was only just past mid-November and there were holiday decorations everywhere. It didn't surprise me at all. People were putting all their Christmas shopping on lay-by by now.

I watch Rose look longingly at some top Lissa had shown her. She was shopping a bit 'boring', as Lissa had put it. Rose considered trying it on, but after a quick eye contact with me, she shook her head. She would have looked nice in it too.

Lissa gestured to Rose's hair. She didn't like Rose wearing it up, but I thought it was brilliant. At least she hadn't cut it off. A small smile crept across my lips, soon interrupted by Stan. "Belikov, what is that on your face?" After a quick laugh it was back to guarding.

In an accessory shop later on, I spotted something that made me smile again. I waited for Rose to glance at me like always . . . and there it was. The second she looked away I walked over and bought the small item and moved to a slightly different position to before. Rose glance at me again and out of the store we went

I watched Lissa try to buy a dress for Rose, but again, Rose refused to try it on. So Lissa bought it anyway. It was a nice dress, and like the top at Macy's, it would have looked perfect on Rose. In our last store, Lissa and Rose awed over something, I looked over at Spiridon, and the girls walked away, but didn't buy anything.

I walked past the cabinet they were looking at and knew in a heartbeat what had caught their eyes: a gold-and-diamond rose pendant. It was beautiful, but one look at the price tag told me why they hadn't bought it.

Finally, we were on our way home. Rose climbed in next to me in the back of the van, and I was fully aware of her closeness as she leaned against the back of the seat. I knew she was tired.

"So, I can't ever try on clothes again?" She asked quietly, hoping not to wake the already asleep girl in front of us.

"When you aren't on duty, you can. You can do it during your time off." I wanted her to have some freedom, I was encouraging it. Once she was, maybe, her mother's age, she wouldn't want it, but she should live while she was young.

Of course, I didn't think she'd take my hint. "I don't ever want time off. I wanted to always take care of Lissa." She yawned again. Her voice was drifting off, away from me. "Did you see that dress/"

"I saw the dress," I answered gently as her eyes closed.

"Did you like it?" I didn't know how to answer her, so I stayed silent. She took it as a simple yes.

He rested her head on my shoulder. "Am I going to endanger my reputation if I wear it to the dance?"

I cracked my last smile for the day. "You'll endanger the school."

I felt her smile into my shoulder, and she was asleep.

I found my eyes wandering down to her peaceful sleeping form as we drove back to the Academy. She started to move closer to me, and when she frowned and shivered once, I slipped off my jacket, preying she wouldn't wake up and placed it over her.

"You really have got a star student there, Belikov," Spiridon said to me quietly. "She would make a great guardian." He looked at her as remorse filled his face. "Such a shame. . . ."

I frowned. "Shame?"

"Oh, you know," Spiridon casually recovered, "that she's female. She'll never be treated to her full potential."

I nodded slowly, not quite sure what to think of his comment.

Rose didn't wake up until the van had stopped back at the school. She slowly became conscious and looked around. She seemed to intentionally rest on my arm for a moment longer, and then pulled off my duster and scrambled out the van behind me. She caught up with Lissa and started complaining about going back to prison.

"Maybe if you fake a heart attack, I can make a break for it," she said.

"Without your clothes?" said Lissa, handing over the single bag of Rose's purchases. "I can't wait to see the dress."

"Me either. If they let me go. Kirova's still deciding if I've been good enough."

"Show her those boring shirts you bought. She'll go into a coma. I'm about ready to." I wanted to laugh the conversation taking place between them, but Spiridon was right next to me. Rose hopped up onto one of the wooden benches, walked along it beside Lissa, then hopped off the end. "They aren't _that_ boring."

"I don't know what to think of this new, responsible Rose."

Rose hopped onto another bench. "I'm not that responsible." I saw Natalie at the end of the bench behind Rose—she was admiring Rose's grace and skill.

"But she should be," Spiridon murmured beside me with a sly smile. "Hey," he called to Rose. "You're still on duty. No fun allowed up there."

"No fun here," Rose called to the laughing voice. "I swear—shit!"

It was like I saw it a split second before it happened. One minute Rose was on the bench, ready to jump off the end, and suddenly her foot had fallen through one piece of old wood. Rose fell to the concrete, but her foot was left behind in the bench. I was no more than a few metres from her when I heard a horrible snap—I couldn't tell if it was the wood or her ankle, and I didn't care. My main concern was getting to her and making sure she was okay.

I try to roll her over, but she subconsciously screamed—her foot was still stuck. Stan was there and together we pulled the bench apart. The other bits of wood were so solid—it seemed strange this one had broken. I pulled Rose's foot out carefully and flipped her onto her back. I placed my hands on her face and called her name.

Rose opened her eyes not even half-way and whispered, "Dimitri." My breath caught. She was okay.

Her eyes closed again and I worried she'd hit her head. Like it was instinct, I lifted her into my arms, not as concerned about a little extra pain for her as I was about getting her to the clinic.

Rose groaned as I raced across campus. "Dimitri, I think I hurt it. What if . . . what if it puts me out of practice? Oh my God. Dimitri"—she gripped my shirt with her hand—"what if can't go to practice? Oh no." All of this came in sections as she drifted in and out of consciousness.

We made it to the clinic after what felt like a marathon. I was getting more worried by the minute. Lissa couldn't keep pace with me and just kept yelling my name, telling me to wait.

Once we were in the clinic, I put Rose on a bed and waited for the doctor to have a free moment. Lissa caught up and came rushing in, sitting beside Rose as we waiting. Once Lissa sat down, Rose's half-hearted attempts at thrashing and writhing in pain pretty much stopped, for which I was thankful.

Lissa refused to leave until the doctor came in and said it would be okay and Lissa should go get some sleep. "You'll stay with her?" she asked me. "Until she wakes up, then you'll come a get me, Dimitri?"

I was going to offer to anyway, but I nodded. Lissa wrapped her arms around me, and then she left. I sat down in the single chair beside the bed and waited.


	19. Chapter 19

**You'll never believe what happened! I was really gonna post a chapter every few chapters I read of LS, but then I got hooked and was reading all day (as I'm sure those who have read it will understand) and while I was reading, Mum completely cleaned out the computer! Which erased all my chapters! I was so depressed about it I couldn't even try to write for weeks, and then when I did try, it was all just crap.**

**So I finally got the next two done to my liking and I'm working on the rest… sorry it took me so long, but what happened was just horrifying. I lost all my story chapters! Even those from my other stories. Including the very last chapter of Searching for Roza :'(**

**Anyway, after 'the incident' I've had loads of trouble getting into writing. And with school having gone back, it'll be much harder to update… but please stay with me, I'm working as hard as I can.**

**WIWR xx ;)**

**Don't own VA btw :P**

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**-Chapter 19-**

Rose's eye flittered open hours later. "Rose," I said gently. I sat up straighter when she met my eyes. Her hair was a mess and her eyes looked a bit groggy, but she seemed okay—for which I was thankful.

"Hey," she croaked out. Oh, how much better I felt after that one simple word.

"How do you feel?"

"Weird. Kind of groggy." I was pretty sure that was a good sign.

"Dr. Olendzki gave you something for the pain—you seemed pretty bad when we brought you in." I assessed her further as she spoke.

"I don't remember that. . . . How long have I been out?"

"A few hours."

"Must have been strong. Must still be strong." She put a hand to her head as I saw the details flood back to her. I caught a glimpse of her wiggling her toes on one foot. "I don't hurt at all."

I shook my head. "No. Because you weren't seriously injured." She was lucky. It must have been the bench I heard snap after all.

"Are you sure?" she asked, utterly shocked. "I remember . . . the way it bent. No. Something must be broken." She sat up and looked at the evidence for herself. "Or at least sprained."

I felt the urge to stop her from moving too much. "Be careful. Your ankle may be fine, but you're probably still a little out of it."

She shuffled around and seriously assessed the damage—or lack thereof. "God, I got lucky. If I'd hurt it, it would have put me out of practice for a while."

I sat back down, smiling at her comment. She was oblivious to the trip to the clinic. "I know. You kept telling me that while I was carrying you. You were very upset." I was really upset for her when she rambled like she had.

Rose looked up at me quickly. "You . . . you carried me here?"

"After we broke the bench apart and freed your foot," I said amusingly.

"I was taken down by a bench," Rose groaned and she let her head hit the pillow, embarrassed.

"What?"

"I survived the whole day guarding Lissa, and you guys said I did a good job. Then, I get back here and meet my downfall in the form of a bench. Do you know how embarrassing it is? And all those guys saw too."

"It wasn't your fault," I said, hiding my laughter. "No one knew the bench was rotted. It looked fine."

"Still. I should have just stuck to the sidewalk like a normal person. The other novices are going to give me shit when I get back."

I was about to tell her that no one need to know, then I remembered how fast gossip spread among the students and almost smiled. "Maybe presents will cheer you up," I said instead.

Rose sat up. "Presents?"

I let go of hiding back my smile at her sudden mood change and handed her Victor's gift.

"This is from Prince Victor," I said. He had visited to give it to her quickly before he left. When he found out Rose hadn't broken anything, there was something n his face . . . I just couldn't think what—but I knew I didn't trust it. I was glad he was leaving, I felt safer with him back at Court.

Rose read the note Victor had scrawled quickly when he realized Rose wasn't awake. "That's nice of him," she said. She opened the box and gasped. "Whoa. Very nice."

It was the necklace Rose had been eyeing at the jewelry store. I had wanted to buy it for her, but it wasn't even in Lissa's price range. Of course it was in the prince's.

"This is pretty extreme for a get-well present," Rose said and I had to agree, except . . .

"He actually bought it in honor of you doing so well on your first day as an official guardian. He saw you and Lissa looking at it." Suddenly, my gift didn't seem good enough, just looking at the way she eyed the necklace.

"Wow. I don't think I did _that _good of a job."

"I do," I encouraged. I really was so proud of her. She'd had all the temptations of shopping like a normal teenager swung in front of her face all day today, but she had stuck to her duty.

Rose was truly beaming when she spoke next, "You did say 'presents', right? Like more than one?"

I laughed as I handed her my small bag with her favorite kind of lip gloss in it. "This is from me."

She seemed excited to see what it was. God, I hoped she wasn't disappointed. When she saw it she smiled, most likely thinking I hadn't been paying attention when she complained about running out, _every _practice session. Then she frowned slightly.

"How'd you manage to buy this? I saw you the whole time we were at the mall."

I stifled another laugh. "Guardian secrets."

"What's this for? For my first day?" Always thought there was suspicious reasoning behind everything. With Rose, that was always the case.

"No," I said simply. "Because I thought it would make you happy."

Rose reached out and hugged me. "Thank you."

It took me a moment to transmit the surprise gesture, but I did hug her back—feeling some great sense of satisfaction at how happy I'd made her.

"I'm glad you're better," I said, I smile playing at my lips as I spoke into her hair. "When I saw you fall . . ." how was I supposed to finish that sentence? I wanted to tell her how worried I was, but it didn't seem to be the right thing to tell her.

"You thought, 'Wow, she's a loser.'"

I really did smile for a second. "That's not what I thought."

I pulled back a fraction and looked at her eyes. The deep brown brought up something in me, something that made me want to close the gap between us. I noticed she was watching me, just below my eyes—the look was there for a second, before she dragged her eyes back to mine.

Someone knocked at the door and we pulled apart instantly. Dr. Olendzki stuck her head in and entered the room. "I thought I heard you talking. How do you feel?" She made the young girl lie back down and assessed Rose's sore ankle. When she was finished, she shook her head.

"You're lucky," Dr. Olendzki began. "With all the noise you made coming in here, I thought your foot had been amputated. Must have just been shock." She took a step back and looked at Rose, but I had a feeling most of her words had a slight direction at me. "I'd feel better if you sat out from your normal trainings tomorrow, but otherwise, you're good to go."

Rose was relieved, but also embarrassed at throwing a fit. When Dr. Olendzki said she could go, I grabbed her coat and shoes for her. Something flashed across her face when I handed them to her. She was thinking about what had happened just before the good doctor came in. I was too, and kind of regretted the doctor's interruption.

I watched as she put one of her shoes on hastily—ready to leave. "You have a guardian angel."

"I don't believe in angels," she told me firmly. "I believe in what I can do for myself."

"Well then, you have an amazing body." She glanced at me. Oops. Now I'd stepped in it. "For healing, I mean. I heard about the accident." I'd said I'd heard about it like it wasn't big news, when, in truth, _everyone_ knew about it. How couldn't they? Three of the four remaining Dragomirs had been killed.

"Everyone said I shouldn't have survived," Rose went on. "Because of where I sat and the way the car hit the tree. Lissa was really the only one in a secure spot. She and I walked away with only a few scratches."

"And you don't believe in angels or miracles." I didn't have much room for faith like that in my life, but I always liked to believe what my grandmother had told me about guardian angels.

Rose may not be too worried about her survival, but I was glad she had lived.

"Nope. I—"

Something cut her off—she became distracted. "What's wrong?" I asked, noticing the change in her.

"Where's Lissa? Was she here?"

"I don't know where she is." I explained about when Lissa was here—Rose had calmed down a lot while Lissa was with her.

I watched Rose slip into Lissa's mind. It took some effort, probably because of the pain meds. As Lissa's emotions hit her, her face twisted. "Rose?" I asked softly.

It was a few minutes before anything else happened. I stood in front of Rose and waited—watching her to make sure she was okay. When her face grew painful, I reached out and shook her slightly. "Rose?" I said more hastily. I repeated her name several times before Dr. Olendzki walked in and stood beside me.

And just like that, Rose snapped back to me. I was still so worried though. Trust, and sadness, came over her. When she spoke her next words, her voice was cracked and strained.

"I know where she is. Lissa. We have to help her."

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**What's funny is that this really isn't a cliffhanger coz you all know what happens AHA!**

**Anyway, so many reviews, I can't keep track, but I love you all for it :) Thank you all sooooo much!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Okay, next chapter :) hope it's okay :)**

**WIWR xx ;)**

**VA is not mine**

* * *

**-Chapter 20-**

I was out the door in seconds.

Once Rose told me about Lissa's cutting, and where she was, my guardian training kicked in. I ran over to the chapel and was surprised the priest didn't notice anything. Maybe he was out. I raced up to the attic like Rose had said and found Lissa crying, the blood running down her arms.

I raced over and knelt in front of her. I cupped her face and lifted her head, making her look at me. There was blood on her face and she was extremely pale, but I thought she would be okay.

"Lissa?"

She seemed surprised to see me. "What—what are you doing here?" Her face might have flushed. I looked at her arms. "This . . . this is nothing. Absolutely nothing to worry about."

"It's okay Lissa," I said calmly. "Rose told me, it's okay." She sobbed harder. Two other guardians showed up: Alberta, and some young guy I didn't know. "Get her to the clinic," I told the young guy. He helped her stand and put a blanket around her. I hadn't thought of that—I was too busy worrying about getting over here and making sure her cuts weren't life threatening.

I didn't need to explain to Alberta what had happened, nor that this had to stay quiet. If something like this got out . . .

I didn't see Lissa for a little bit. But once I heard she wasn't talking to Rose, I thought it necessary.

I knocked on the door and when no answer came, I walked in. Lissa was lying on the bed reading a magazine. She gave a weak attempt at a smile when she saw it was me. "Oh, Dimitri. Hi. Sorry, I thought you were . . . someone else," she recovered. This was bad.

"How are you feeling?"

"Good. The doctor says I can leave soon."

I forced a smile back at her as I sat down in the chair beside her bed. I sighed after a short moment of silence. "Lissa," I began, but she didn't want to let me finish.

"I know what you're going to say, Dimitri," she snapped, "but don't. Rose betrayed me by opening her mouth. She promised me she wouldn't tell. She was my _best friend_." I frowned at the past tense used. "She swore she wouldn't tell," Lissa finished in a whisper.

"She's not your best friend anymore, Lissa," I said.

"You got that right," Lissa mumbled.

"I mean," I tried again, "she's not just your best friend. She's your guardian. She understands that better than any novice her age, better than _I_ did at her age." Lissa looked up at me as if to ask if I was being honest. I nodded. "As your best friend, it's killing her that she broke her promise—but as your guardian, she knows she did that right thing. Neither duty outweighs the other, both will be very important when she graduates, and they'll bounce off of each other, that, along with your bond, will make her the most powerful guardian in centuries."

"Once you've trained her enough to actually get a hit on you." Lissa laughed, and I followed suit.

I stayed with Lissa for another ten minutes or so before leaving for a shift on the grounds.

The night of the dance, I was on my way up to my room when Alberta called out to me, before catching up and walking with me. "You're not chaperoning for the dance?"

"No," I answered. "I thought I might enjoy my night off my catching up on some sleep."

"Fair enough," she said. "I just have some paperwork to do, but I'm looking for any excuse to get out of it." I eyed her with surprise. "What? Guardians get sick of paperwork too."

I nodded. "Glad I don't have to deal with anything like that."

Alberta gave me a look. A look that said, 'Are you sure you don't want to stay and become captain of the guardian?'

I grimaced. "No way, Alberta."

"Damn shame," she muttered.

We rounded a corner and spotted Rose and Mason Ashford. As the two stumbled to a halt, Ashford put his hand on Rose's arm to steady her. I eyed him angrily. Jeez, what was wrong with me? Mason was a good kid, with a load of potential—I didn't have any reason not to like him.

"Mr. Ashford, Miss Hathaway," Alberta addressed them with a smile—a smile that had always bugged me when older people gave it to me. "I'm surprised you aren't already in the commons."

Mason rattled off to Alberta in a teacher's-pet tone, but I was staring at Rose. She had on _the_ dress, the one from shopping—and, my god, did it look good on her. Her hair was roughly done, but she had it out, making me want to smile. She also hadn't worn tight so I knew she must have been freezing. I wanted to give her my duster, like I had in the van, but something caught my attention before we said our goodbyes. Rose was sort of holding Ashford's hand, but she'd pulled away when she noticed me staring at her.

Suddenly, it made a lot more sense. But it couldn't be true. Rose knew she was my student and I was her mentor. Feelings like that were forbidden. But I could see it now—the subtle hints at how she felt. But it didn't matter because Rose knew I didn't have those same feelings for her. Nothing had to change, and in time, she would move on. Hopefully to someone more appropriate—like Ashford.

When I walked into my room, I realized I had a whole night to myself, no distractions. I sat down at the small, fairly cluttered desk and began to write a letter to family. It was about time they knew where I was. But I didn't know where to begin. What to say, what they should know.

I took a shower and decided to sleep on it and try again in the morning.

I was woken later by a loud knocking on my door. It was more like a banging. I look at the time on my phone. I hadn't even been asleep that long. I swore. In Russian of course.

I opened the door to see Rose standing on the other side, looking frantic. My eyes widened.

"Rose?"

"Let me in. It's Lissa." It was all she said but I stepped aside instantly.

I realized I only had my pajama bottoms on and felt a little conscious having Rose in my room. She was still wearing her clothes from the dance and I figured she must have just come from there. Her eyes looked a little wild, but more than anything they looked lost as she stared around the room.

"What's wrong?"

She stared at me for a moment, then with scary suddenness, she launched for my chest, trying to cover the foot between us.

"Rose!" I cried out, taking as big a step as I could backwards. "What are you doing?"

"What do you think?" was her reply. I knew she'd had some sort of crush on me, but she couldn't be doing this. Despite what others believed, she was more responsible than this.

She came at me again.

"Are you drunk?" I asked, holding out my hand to ward her off.

"Don't I wish." She tried to evade around me, but hesitated. "I thought you wanted to—don't you think I'm pretty?" I'd never told her how pretty she was before. I'd hinted about a hundred times, and she received comments all the time from other guys, but she seemed to need _me_ to tell her I thought she was pretty. Is that what all this as about?

"Rose, I don't know what's going on, but you need to go back to your room."

When she came towards me for a third time, I grabbed her wrists to stop her. A lightning bolt of electricity shot through me—and her too by the look on her face. I forgot whatever it was I had been saying, and felt such a need. A need for her. In that one touch, she became the air I breath, the sun I always wanted more of, she became the only thing I would need for the rest of eternity.

I released her wrist and trailed my fingers up her arms. I brought her closer to me, but it wasn't enough. I put m hand on the back of her neck and left no air between our bodies. _Still not close enough._

I brushed my lips against hers, wanting to see the reaction—both our reactions.

Rose swallowed, and again asked, "Do you think I'm pretty?"

I kept my voice serious, so she would know how truthful my next words were: "I think you're beautiful."

"Beautiful?"

"You are so beautiful, it hurts me sometimes."

I kissed her again, wanting to keep it light, but it became hard and hungry and we both deepened it. My arms went down to her hips, slowly making their way back up with the hem of the black dress in tow. Her kiss, her mere touch, made me feel something I had never experienced before in my life. She really was beautiful, but so much more.

She understood me, she saw right through my mask and my shields—that scared me, but it also created this connection between us, one so deep and so powerful, it made me never want to leave her again.

Finally, her dress was on the floor. "You . . . you got rid of that dress fast," she indicated. Her breathing had become heavy and desperate. "I thought you liked it."

"I do like it," I said between breaths as heavy as hers. "I love it."

Then I grabbed her and moved over to the bed.


	21. Chapter 21

**That's right! I'm back! I know it's taken me forever to get this to you guys but I've been so unmotivated to write lately, it's insane. But with all the new stuff going on with the VA movie, I was inspired to finish this chapter, so I went back and read the rest of this story again, which definitely helped me a lot! So I hope you like it and it was worth the wait :) Let me know!**

**WIWR xx ;)**

**P.S. VA and characters = not mine**

**P.P.S. Who's excited about the VA movie? Do you agree with directing/writing/casting choices? What about the name? PM me and we can chat about it, or rant depending on how you feel ;)**

* * *

**-Chapter 21-**

I'd done it. I'd fallen for Rose. She was the reason I smiled again, the reason I enjoyed my days and saw beauty in the world again. I wanted her, I wanted to feel her, and I wanted to be close to her. I only wished I'd been able to admit it sooner.

She was completely naked and I familiarised myself with her body as I murmured her name in Russian, over and over again. Every new touch created electricity in me I had never felt with anyone and it thrilled me.

While she was hovering over me, her fingertips brushed over the tattoos on the back of my neck. This led to a conversation about how I'd gotten them.

"Do you feel guilty?" she asked, her voice soft and her face still so close to mine.

"Hmm?"

"Killing them," she clarified. "You said in the van that it was the right thing to do, but it still bothers you. It's why you go to church, isn't it? I see you there, but you aren't really into the services."

Oddly, I found myself smiling. She had been able to see right through me since the night we met. I voiced my wonder about how she knew me so well before confiding in her, "I don't feel guilty exactly . . . just sad sometimes. All of them used to be human or dhampir or Moroi. It's a waste, that's all, but as I said before, it's something I have to do. Something we all have to do. Sometimes it bothers me, and the chapel is a good place to think about those kinds of things. Sometimes I find peace there, but not often."

Then I quickly geared myself up to say the words that really made Rose everything to me.

"I find more peace with you."

That was something I had come to realize in the past weeks. Whenever I was with Rose, even when she was being stubborn and frustrating, I was the most peaceful I had ever been. All my burdens seemed lifted from me. I supposed that should have been my first clue to my feelings for her.

She didn't say anything and I flipped her back over and we continued kissing, getting more intense with every passing moment.

I wasn't sure how far we were going to take this until I saw the decision in her eyes that she wanted me as much as I wanted her and I reached up to remove her necklace from around her neck and put it aside.

When I put the necklace down, my whole body felt like it had been hit with cold water, making me pull back from Rose and blink in shock.

"What happened?" I asked quickly, the last few minutes becoming a complete blur to me. I knew I wanted Rose, but suddenly it was like my inner logic had a voice again.

"I—I don't know," Rose answered me, her confusion clearly equalling my own.

Fighting through my uncertainty, I tried to figure out what had just happened. I knew it happened when I let the necklace go, so I reached over and picked it up again.

And the spark was back. All I could concentrate on was Rose and the feel of her body against mine. I brought my lips down closer to hers and a part of me knew with that kiss there would be no turning back, but Rose interrupted me.

Whispering, "Lissa," Rose pinched her eyes together trying to focus on something else, something that wasn't me. But I wanted all her attention on me. "I have to tell you something about Lissa. But I can't . . . remember . . . I feel so strange. . . ."

She was right and I couldn't fight it. Now that my reason had been given a voice, it wouldn't shut up.

"I know." I began to murmur things to try and help me concentrate, and once I pulled my face away from Rose's, a thought hit me. "This necklace," I said. "That's the one Prince Victor gave you?"

Rose just nodded at me while my brain ticked over, trying to put the pieces together. It was all there, I just had to think.

Something about that necklace.

Sighing heavily, I pulled away from Rose despite her pleas for me to come back.

My better judgement screamed at me to keep going—like it knew exactly what was wrong and how to fix it before I did—and every other fibre of my being wanted to squash it flat and continue holding Rose. My Roza.

I climbed out of the bed and the further I got away from Rose, the more I could see her mind rouse behind her fiery eyes. But while she was coming out of whatever it was, my need for her only grew stronger, and it took every bit of effort I had to walk over to the window and open it.

The splash of cold air that burst through the open window was enough to give me the last bit of clarity I needed. My body knew what to do without me even thinking about it and by the time Rose worked out what I was doing, it was too late and the necklace was halfway to the edge of campus.

A lust charm.

The answer hit me like a tonne of bricks as soon as the necklace left my fingers. Ivan had used one once on a girl he'd had his eye on for a while. He was sure she felt something for him too, so he used a lust charm of her.

The effects only worked if both people felt something for each other. Which meant I did love Rose. But of course I did. I could see it all now, my feelings for her were there in front of me, clear as day, but I knew what it meant and so I hadn't let myself acknowledge them. And that meant she really did love me, too.

And oh how it changed everything.

But I didn't have time worry about that as Rose cried out Lissa's name.

Registering every single one of Rose's gushed out words of what she had come to my room to tell me in the first place, I moved quickly, getting dressed and handing her a sweatshirt I hardly wore anymore before we left the room.

Rose was desperately trying to get the guardians to do something to save Lissa, but even I had trouble getting them to believe that Lissa had really been kidnapped.

"Alberta, we're standing here twiddling our thumbs while whoever has the princess gets further and further away," I said to her quietly while we waited on Rose's story to be verified. "You haven't even organized a team to go in search of her."

"I know, but Kirova is having her doubts about Rose's trustworthiness," she said.

Kirova chose that moment to walk over and catch the tail end of our conversation. "You put a little too much faith in your student, Guardian Belikov," she chastised. "After the incident at the dance earlier, this really doesn't surprise me." I moved away and went to stand by Rose.

I believed Rose with everything I had, but it wasn't until two other guardians went and found Christian in the church attic _and_ they made sure Lissa was nowhere on campus that everyone started to see that Rose was right.

Then many of them started asking questions about Strigoi.

"Wh—? There weren't any Strigoi," she tried to tell them.

Everyone stared at Rose with disbelief, but I knew she was right, Strigoi wouldn't have bothered trying to distract myself and Rose. They wouldn't have even known to distract us. And that charm was a very old Earth spell, and who specialized in Earth magic? Who gave Rose the necklace with the charm on it? Who had I not trusted from day one?

And after a lot more arguing from Rose and the guardians, Rose slipped back into Lissa's mind and returned with the same realisation I had just had.

"They work for Victor Dashkov," she inhaled. "They're his."

A young guardian laughed at her with snort. "Prince Victor Dashkov?"

"Please," Rose begged, gripping her head in her hands out of frustration. She wanted so desperately to get going after Lissa, but no one was moving. I had the strongest urge to reach out and wrap my arms around her and comfort her. "Do something. They're getting so far away. They're on . . ." I watched her as she slipped into Lissa's head before she came back to the conversation and continued, "Eighty-three. Headed south."

"Eighty-three already?" Kirova said in disbelief. "How long ago did they leave? Why didn't you come sooner?"

Rose looked straight to me for answers, hers eyes pleading _what do we tell them?_ She looked fearful, she didn't know what to tell Kirova despite the many lies she'd told her in the past. "A compulsion spell," I lied slowly. "A compulsion spell put into a necklace he gave her. It made her attack me."

Kirova cried, "No one can use that kind of compulsion. No one's done that in ages."

"Well someone did," I said, keeping my face perfectly guarded. "By the time I'd restrained her and taken the necklace, a lot of time had passed."

And just like that, Kirova gave the order to move out. Rose was practically bouncing with all the built up emotions—ready to jump into action. That was until another guardian stopped her in her tracks on the way out the door.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked Rose. "You're not coming."

"I'm sorry," Rose said. "I didn't realize you were going to use your bond with Lissa to track them."

"She's right, we aren't going to find the princess without her. She comes too." He didn't argue after that.

On the way to the car, Rose asked me a question. "So what was the charm, really?"

"It was a lust charm," I explained quietly. "A different type of compulsion charm."

"_And?_" she pressed me for more.

"It's a type of old earth magic that users haven't practiced in centuries," I said and made sure my tone told her that was the end of it.

I drove the first of three cars, Rose in the passenger seat beside me, slipping in and out of Lissa's head, telling me where to go.

While Rose was trying to pay attention to the problem at hand, I didn't miss her long, lingering looks over at me in between her visits to Lissa. I guessed that, like me, a part of her was desperate to go back to my room and finish what the lust charm had started.

And that's how I knew we would never work together. Forgetting that she was underage, forgetting that she was my student, I could never have Rose because she was going to be Lissa's guardian. And I was also Lissa's guardian. If anything were ever to happen to Lissa, if she was ever in danger, but I was with Rose, then my first instinct would be to guard Rose, whether she could take care of herself or not.

I knew Rose wouldn't want that anymore than I did. Because even faced with the notion of spending the night in my room, she still pushed through the lust charm to protect her friend.

So I knew no matter how much I wanted her, I could never have her, and I could never give myself to her. Or I'd be betraying the very mantra I'd been raised to believe—_they come first._

Our SUV bounced over the uneven roads as I went as fast as I could without tipping the vehicles over, and finally, Rose said, "They're outside a small cabin. They're taking her—"

She was sucked back into Lissa's mind and I just hoped that we would get there before anything happened to her.

* * *

**By the way, did you know apparently FF lets you have cover art now? That's so cool! But I'm hopeless at that stuff, so if anyone would be interested in making a cover for this story or any of my other stories, PM me and I'll let you know where you can send them! If I get lots of people wanting to send me covers, then I might run a competition :D**

**Also, MASSIVE thank you to all the people who have reviewed/favourited/alerted any of my stories since I've been away! It amazes me that I'm constantly getting new readers. And that old readers are still keen for more! :D**

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**Okay, FF is too smart for me, so just replace the word dot with a . in those addresses (as if you weren't smart enough to figure that out!)**


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